Harry Potter, A History: The Philosoher's Stone PV

[Choices HP]

Chapter One

A Distraction

Harry stared at the ceiling to his room for as long as he could before turning to his side and staring at the table that was next to his bed. After he tired of that he turned to his other side where his snowy owl, Hedwig was sleeping. She, by far, was the most interesting thing that he could look at in his dull room, but she seemed to be the hardest too. He could remember writing letters that Hedwig would then deliver to … he grimaced and turned, staring off into space once again.

He had only gotten back to Privet Drive two days ago and he already wanted to be out of this house. Then again, the way he was right now, he wasn't sure if he could stand to be anywhere else. His, for a lack of a better word, relatives had left him alone as soon as they got home and he had yet to leave his room since. This, by far, was the best thing he could expect from them and was rather needed at the moment. Still, with nothing else to distract him, all he could do is think about his godfather and how he would never see him again.

He was beyond crying now, beyond being angry … beyond feeling anything. He wish that he could just turn everything off and not have to feel anything anymore. At least that was what was going through his mind the last few days. But now his memories were coming back to him, good and bad ones and he knew one thing for sure. Sirius would not have wanted him to stop living … to give into his grief. It would be a very poor way to repay the man if he just wasted away from here on.

The problem was, knowing that he shouldn't just sit here and actually getting up and doing something about it was two different things. It had been hard enough for him to think back on his memories, but to start pulling himself together was going to take more energy than he had at the moment.

Hedwig raffled her feathers and he looked at her, glad for a distraction, even if it was only a slight one. His owl seemed to noticed his mood and flew to his shoulder where she could nip at him affectionately. Just like all the times before, he felt better having her with him, especially here at the Dursley's home where she was the only one he could count on to care about him.

"I'm sorry I've been so glumly lately," he murmured to her as he stroked her feathers. Hedwig made a soft sound that he took as reassurance that she understood.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, petting Hedwig, but once it became dark, he had let her out so she could hunt. She had given him a concern looked before she went as if she didn't want to leave him alone. He wasn't sure if he was just imagining this or not, but he felt his heart swell for his owl all the same. She was always looking out of him.

Once she disappeared he turned back to his room and grimaced, as the sense of lost hit him again. He had last so much in his life it was a wonder that he could still feel anything at all, but this had been so different than the other times. He had lost his parents when he was one, but he had no real memories of them and though he felt that lost every day, it was more about thinking of a life he would have had. Last year he had lost someone that was both a rival and a friend. But he hadn't really known Cedric on a personal level. He grieved that lost of course … he cursed Voldemort and Wormtail a like for the senseless death. But a hole hadn't been ripped out of his heart when Cedric dead.

It was different now. He had only known Sirius for three year … no it was more like two, seeing as the first year he thought Sirius had been a mass murder. He had hardly seen his godfather during that time, and yet it was enough for him to have formed a bond that was now cruelly ripped away from him. Sirius had been the one adult that he felt he could tell anything to and didn't have to worry what he would say. He started to think of his somewhat as a father …

"Stop it!" Harry hissed to himself, dwelling on this now was only going to make him close off again. He didn't want to close up again. He looked around the room for something, anything, that might distract him and his eyes rested on a book. Not just any book though. It was a book that he and Ron had promised the other they would never read. After all, Hermione quoted from it so much, they didn't really need to … and it was fun to see her exasperated expression every time she complied about them not reading this book yet.

Desperate times lead to desperate measures, Harry thought to himself when he picked up the book. Hermione must have somehow known that he would be more likely to read it this year, otherwise it wouldn't have ended up in his trunk. He shrugged, flipping through the pages trying to find something that might be interesting. He almost gave up as he skimmed through the table of context and nothing seemed to catch his attention until he got to the last thing.

If you are able to read this there may be help for you on page 1239.

Harry blinked at that. It seemed to be a odd thing to be in the book, but due to his curious nature, of course he immediately flipped the page to 1239.

There Will Always be Help at Hogwarts for those Willing to Ask for It

Harry read the title of the chapter, his mind going back to second year when Dumbledore had said something similar to that. More intrigued than ever he continued reading.

As I have come to recognized that things in the future will change my school, I realized there will always be a need to hear explanation from myself or the other Founders to clarify our intentions. History, after all is remembered by the victors, and the victors always tend to exaggerate their powers … make their enemies worst than they really are in hopes that they appear to be just. If you want to learn the true history of Hogwarts, the one that could not possibly be put in a single book, there is an enchantment at the bottom of this page that will give you those answer. I realize that most who read this would not care to learn about history, but understanding one's past (and when I say one, I mean people as a whole) helps us to know who we are.

Harry grimaced at the book, again reminded of his second year, but this time not in a good way. He couldn't help but think of Tom Riddles's diary … he felt like the book was asking him to relive the past just as Riddle had done. He probably should have thrown the book away from him but he reasoned this couldn't really be the same thing. After all, Hermione had read Hogwarts, A History, thousands of times before and she wasn't being controlled by it … well unless you count the number of times she spouted out facts she read from the book, but that wasn't the same thing. He decided to keep reading and see what else it had to say.

If history is not what you seek, there are other ways that we, the Founders, could be of help to our students, even our students that are from the distant future. We have built Hogwarts so that our children have a safe place to learn, and our number one goal is to keep our students safe from harm. We are not about to let a silly thing like time keep us from accomplishing our goal.

Sincerely,

Helga Hufflepuff

Harry was a little surprised as he finished this paragraph that the message had come for Hufflepuff … he had thought it was Gryffindor but that didn't matter much. He still wasn't sure if this was really from the Founder or if it was some kind of dark spell someone had put on the book. It seemed unlikely that it was a dark spell … after all he still knew the book was from Hermione. Again he decided to read the finally paragraph on the page knowing that it was the one that described the spell. As long as he didn't read it out loud, it wouldn't hurt anything.

The spell is rather easy to activate though it had been rather complex to cast. All you have to do is say Entrancedius, followed by the sir name of the Founder of your choice. For example, for Helga Hufflepuff, you would say:

Entrancedius Hufflepuff.

The same goes for the other founders. If you would like to talk to more than one Founder, say the sir names one after another. For example, for Helga Hufflepuff and Rowna Ravenclaw you would say:

Entrancedius Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw.

If you want all of the Founders, just say:

Entrancedius Founders.

Harry had a feeling that Hufflepuff was no longer the one writing … it didn't seem to be the same person as before. He felt that it was likely Ravenclaw that had wrote this part but he couldn't be sure. He also wasn't sure how reading this had put most of his doubts aside. All the same, he was now sure that this was really from the founders and they were trying to reach out to those students that might need them. But did he need them. Would understanding the past … the history that was around a thousand years old, really help him at all? Would talking to Gryffindor (for that was likely who he would want to talk to if he could) make the lost that he just suffer any easier to bare?

Somehow, he didn't think it would help much to talk to Gryffindor. Then again, what else was he doing right now. Sitting around moping wasn't helping anyone, and maybe if he talked to a someone … someone that he would never have to see again but might know what he was going through, it might help. Making up his mind that he would do the spell, he was about to say the words out loud before he paused. Did he only want to speak to Gryffindor? Maybe it would be more useful to him to hear from all of the Founders. Nodding his head, and speaking quickly before he could change his mind he said:

"Entrancedius Founders!"

O

Harry grimaced as he picked himself off of the floor. He hadn't thought that he would fall down as soon as he said the spell, but there he was on the floor and surprisingly enough he wasn't alone there.

"Harry?" Ron said looking confused and then looking around the placing, his confusion turning to panic. "Where are we?"

Harry, who had been looking at his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, along with a very stunned looking Remus Lupin, suddenly took in his surroundings and felt his own fear take over him. He was no longer in his room … some how he had gotten himself and his friends magically transported into a strange room. They were trapped! Just like they had been weeks ago when Sirius …

"Harry!" Hermione said, grabbing his arm and giving him a shake.

"This is my fault," Harry groaned, what had he been thinking reading a strange spell. Had he learn nothing with his rashness of a week ago … had he learn nothing from his second year?

"What did you do?" Remus asked calmly, though his eyes were worried too.

"I was reading Hogwart, A History …" Harry started.

"And now the world had ended," Ron quipped, half seriously and half as a jest to make Harry cheer up.

"There was this part in the book that said If you can read this …"

"There may be help for you on page 201,"' a witch finished for him, a kind smile on her face, and she didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that Harry and the others were staring at her in horror.

"It was page 1239 actually," Harry responded, his horror slowly settling as he recognized the woman to be Helga Hufflepuff … or at least that's who she looked like from the pictures he had seen of her.

"You're …!" Remus and Hermione both started to say as Ron mouth nearly dropped to the floor.

"Helga Hufflepuff," the witch bowed to them, "it is a pleasure to meet you all. My fellow Founders," she added as three more people entered the room, two wizard and one witch. "Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salzar Slytherin."

"Wha … ho … huh?" Hermione said, a lost for words for once in her life.

"I know it is difficult for you to understand what is going on, especially for those of you who had not cast the spell," the other witch, Rowena Ravenclaw, said. She looked at Harry, "I take it was you that had called upon us."

"Yes, Ma'am," Harry answered in awe, but he knew he wasn't gaping as much as the others were.

"Yes, it's always the one that isn't quite as shock as the others, that has called upon us to help," Godric Gryffindor said, an amused twinkle in his eye. "And seeing as none of them have chosen to flee … asked a million question … or offered us pleasantries back, I will hazer to guess they are all from my noble house."

"You do mean that seeing as they were brave enough to make the leap to come here without researching the matter thoroughly and weighing all the possible dangers, they must be from your own noble house," Salazar Slytherin countered, his voice teasing.

"Another good point," Godric allowed with a smile.

"Does it matter what house they are from, they are here and we should help them," Helga said to the two man and they both closed their mouths and as one all of the Founders turned to the four others in the room. It seemed during Godric and Salazar's discussion, the others had gathered some of their wits back, but weren't all together sure what was going on here.

"Harry, what is happening?" Hermione asked him, because he had admitted that he was the one that brought them all here.

"If you will, I believe I can explain both what the boy has done and what he was unaware of when he had cast the spell," Rowena said.

"Please do," Harry said.

"First you should make yourself comfortable," Godric said and as soon as the words left his mouth, chairs appeared in the room for everyone there.

"This is really happening?" Remus asked, looking at the Founders in awe. "This isn't a dream?"

"No, this is not a dream," Godric assured him, "just the workings of a very complex magic."

"And you're really the Founders of Hogwarts?" Remus asked and the others nodded their head. "Blimey … I read a hundred books about you … I never thought I would actually meet you."

"And it's a pleasure to meet you … even if I might have to think you were in Rowena's house now," Godric smiled at him.

"Godric, you know better than to care for what house someone is in," Helga chastised him.

"I wasn't judging … I was merely stating that someone that read a hundred books about us, had a good chance of being in fair Rowena's house," Godric said, batting his eyes jokingly at Rowena until she couldn't help but smile at him.

"Now that Godric has said his part, I think it's time that I explain what is happening," Rowena said. "You are in this room right now, because young Harry … right?"

"Yes," Harry blushed slightly, the Founders had all introduced themselves but he had yet to do so. "I'm Harry Potter, this is Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Remus Lupin," he added pointing at his friends in turn.

"It is nice to meet you all," Helga repeated and the other nodded their heads at the introduction.

"As I was saying, Harry must have had a great need to understand more about us, our school, or has experience a great lost …" Rowena went on grimacing as it was clear which things had brought them all there. To tell the truth she had known it from the start, for usually when so many people were brought here, it was because the need of great help that was for more than just simple understanding.

She didn't say anything as she watched Hermione, grab Harry's hand and Ron place a hand on Harry's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze before removing it awkwardly, the boy blushing almost as red as his hair was. Remus looked at her with concern and a dead look in his eyes that seemed to almost match the one in Harry's.

"How can you help with that?" Ron asked, he seemed to be the only one that could talk at the moment … or at least the only one that lacked the tact to hold back from asking a question like that.

"First of all, by allowing you three, who are the people that are the closest to Harry, know of this," Rowena answered softly and Harry green eyes snapped up to look at her questioningly and accusingly.

"The book didn't say anything about others being involve …. you should have warned me that it wasn't only me …"

"Yes … he's definitely one of your, Godric," Salazar said slyly.

"I should have at least made sure I didn't ask you to be here," Harry snapped at the Founder, forgetting for a moment he was talking to a powerful wizard in his angry. It didn't help when he was thinking again, he remembered that this man was the ancestor of Tom Riddle … that it was his pure blood nonsense that had been Voldemort's platform to getting his Death Eaters to follow him.

"I always knew history would not be kind to me," Salazar said lazily, disregarding the glare as he held up his hand to still the other Founders reaction to Harry's reaction to him. "But at least, the spell that we cast to enchant the original Hogwarts, A History, and therefore made it appear on all copies of the book in the future, knows what you need better than you do."

"Huh?" Ron said, looking confused, though Harry still looked coldly at Salazar until Rowena started talking again.

"The enchantment we cast on the book, helps those that seek our help, and calling forth all those that are needed to give it to them," Rowena answered and Ron stared at her blankly still. "In a spell this powerful and long reaching, there is a balance that has to be maintain in order to achieve our task. In order to meet all four of the Founders, four people from your time had to come here as well."

"So you're saying the book knew that Harry wanted all of us here, and so made him ask for Slytherin to be here too?" Hermione summed up and Rowena smiled at her as she nodded her head.

"Precisely," she said. "And it is also true that Harry must have desired all four of you to be here as appose to wanting all of us Founder here, judging by his disapproval of Salazar. The spell we cast on the book was to make sure the person using it, would get as much help as he needs, whether from our time or his own."

"But I didn't even know they would come too," Harry pointed out crossly.

"And if things were simple for you, you would not have needed the spell, and therefore would have not been able to see Helga's writing," Rowena went on. "You are here for a reason Harry, though I don't know what that reason is yet, I assure you we will try to help you."

"How many students have you talked to … er … I mean how many people have used this spell?" Harry asked, not really wanting to go into what he needed help with. He wasn't really sure himself … after all what happened with Sirius couldn't be helped by talking to the Founders.

"None and hundreds I'm sure," Godric answered, the amused twinkle in his eyes again.

"Huh?"

"What Godric means is that it is very likely that there have been plenty of students before you who asked for our help, but we do not remember them," Rowena said. "We are of course not the real Founders, and you have not traveled through time to get here. We are impressions of the true Founders …"

"What are we?" Hermione asked, "you said that we haven't travel through time … are we in a different place or is something else going on here."

"Ah, this is all but a dream to you," Godric answered amusingly. "A rather completes one where you are all sharing the same memories, will never forget what has happened in here, and our personally are allowed to enter your mind."

"So this isn't real," Remus said, contradicting what he had thought only minutes before.

"What is reality but what we preserve it as," Godric shrugged. "Just because it's all happening in your head, doesn't mean it's not real."

Remus didn't look fully convince but didn't say anything.

"I still don't know how you're suppose to help us … er … me," Harry said. "No offense, but I don't need a history lesson and I don't see how talking to you about … what happen is going to help me."

"I think you might find out that you are wrong on both accounts," Rowena said. "But perhaps it's not our history that you are interested in hearing right now. Though I really think you need to learn more about Salazar, it would do you some good to learn the real man and not the legacy he seems to have left."

"No offense, but we don't bloody care about that," Ron interrupted her, glaring at Salazar as Harry looked stubborn. Hermione and Remus on the other hand looked interested in hearing that but didn't say anything as they looked to Harry to lead. He was the reason they were here after all and if it was true that he need help they were going to what they could to give him that.

"No, I see it is too early for you to hear the truth," Rowena sighed. "It is always hard to unlearn the bias we learn when we are young … hopeful you will open your ears before you are truly set in your ways."

"I'm not bias," Ron said looking offended, he couldn't help but think of Malfoy and how he thought he was better than everyone, especially muggleborns.

"I see," Helga said, before Rowena or Salazar could point out to him that he might be wrong. "I believe Rowena was about to suggest that we look over your own story Harry … it might help us to see what troubles you so we might be able to help you."

"My story?" Harry questioned. "What are you talking about?"

"As Godric had just told you, we are in your head," Helga said. "Though we can't read your thoughts nor do we automatically know what happened to you in the past, there is a way for us to call forth something that will help us to understand you more."

"And why would I want to do that?" Harry questioned shaking his head. He didn't want to hear his story … he had to live through it didn't he?

"As I said in the book, history can show us who we are, and understanding it might help us see things that we did not comprehend at first," Helga said.

Harry looked thoughtful, could this really help him? Could he get answers by reading his past? Does he really need any answers? He wasn't sure, but he felt another reckless wave, just as he had before he read the spell that got him here, to do something, anything so he wouldn't slip back into doing nothing. He nodded his head and suddenly there was a book with thousands of pages laying before them,Harry Potter , was written on the spine.

Rowena's eyes light up as she looked at the book. "You seem to have a very complex story for you to create a book so big."

"As interesting as that is, I don't think it will be easy for us to read through a tomb that size," Godric said, making a face. He flicked his wand at the book and it turned into five books, each one bigger than than the last. "Hm, that's better."

"What did you do?" Harry asked.

"I think each book represents one year at Hogwarts," Hermione said, picking up the first one, "see this one is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," she then pointed at the next book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets …"

"You know of the Chamber of Secrets?" Godric gasped.

"Godric, your observation skills need work," Salazar said, he was looking at the book with obviously curiosity, and had been doing so since Godric had turned the books into separate volumes.

"Wait a second … you know about the Chamber of Secrets?" Ron asked looking at Godric and the other Founders. "But I thought Slytherin built it without telling you."

"I did," Salazar admitted. "I knew my fellow Founders would not agree that it was needed."

"And we still don't agree about that," Godric sighed. "However, he told us about the Chamber as soon as he was done building it. He told us it was there as a last precaution to keep our students safe in case our castle is invaded."

"So you didn't build it to kill muggleborns," Ron asked doubtfully as he narrowed his eyes at Salazar.

"No," Salazar answered, his own eyes narrowing at the accusation. "I admit I am wary of how trust worthy people of muggles decent are, but so far it appears that Godric and Helga were right in their conviction that we should teach all those with magic."

"When does your representation come from," Ron asked. "Because I'm guessing it's before you and Gryffindor had a fallout."

"You are both wrong and right," Salazar answered. "We had cast this spell only ten years after Hogwarts was built and I had yet to have the fight with Godric that caused me to leave. However, Helga had come to be later in life and ask that I imprint all the memories that I had gain over by life after I had left Hogwarts as the other Founders had done."

"What did you two fight about?" Hermione asked, she had been curious about that.

"Oh, the very issue that we were just discussing," Salazar said wryly. "I did not want muggleborns to be taught."

"But you just said …" Hermione said frowning, and looked uncomfortable. Salazar had a suspicion this young witch was a muggleborn.

"At the time that I had left the school, wizards were trying to fade out of the muggle world," Salazar said calmly. "I thought it was foolish to continue accepting students form muggle parentage if we were trying to convince the muggles we didn't exist. Godric felt it was foolish to not train any witch or wizard how to control their powers and that more harm would be done if they stayed in a muggle community."

"We could see where both of them had valid points," Rowena said. " However, Helga and I agreed that anyone that wanted to learn should be able to, which Salazar had taken to mean that we agreed with Godric."

"I must admit, it did feel that way and it had not helped to calm my aggravation in the least," Salazar sighed. "However, it was when one of the muggleborn wizards that we had taught started attacking other wizards that I had enough … and demanded the others agree with me. When they did not I could no longer stay at Hogwarts. I was too angry."

"Why did that wizard start attacking other wizards?" Hermione asked, looking horrified.

"He had said that it was the only way his parents would accept him," Salazar said, his voice hollow. "I could never forget all the damage the boy had cause trying to bid for those feeble muggles acceptance but I could understand it. I had feared more would do the same. Though I was no longer teaching at Hogwarts, I kept a close eye on of the muggleborns that came to be taught there. Tens, turn to hundreds and then even thousands and not one of them had turned against us. However, the inter fighting between wizards families of old and new flourished as much as ever.

"It was only in my twilight years that I realized that it wasn't your birth that makes one a danger," Salazar said. "I've seen pureblood wizards be just as brutal as muggleborn ones. I've seen many fights between the muggles and wizards and cruelness done by both sides. And I've seen kindness done by muggles even though I know they fear wizards still and I've seen wizards do the same even when they are being persecuted against."

"So what you are saying being human is the bad factor in this equation," Remus said, thoughtfully.

"Yes, and no," Salazar said. "Humans can be good or bad … something they are even both at the same time. I myself have done things that I regret now … though thankfully I never crossed the line to do something truly terrible," he sent a look over to Godric then before turning back to Remus. "Human nature can lead to horrible things and wonderful things and it doesn't due to judge where one is born but to judge by the action they do."

"Now after that very heavy conversation, why don't we get to reading about Harry's past," Godric said, giving Salazar a sad look. He knew talking about this wasn't easy for his friend and he could tell the newcomers needed time to process what Salazar was saying.

"Very well, Hermione, why don't you read first since you have the book in your hand," Rowena said.