Sub Rosa

Aw, gosh, my reviewers, though few are the sweetest ever!
tamargirl - I am glad you liked the lemons, there will be more later, promise.
Lady Aidil - thank you for your kind words, my lady.

Chapter 20 – In the Chapel of Dragons

“Professor!” Kathryn turned as Ginny Weasley came bounding up to her, her red hair blazing behind her like the tail of a comet.

“Miss Weasley.” She paused and let the girl catch up with her. Ginny was dressed in sturdy boots, trousers and a long sleeved shirt that looked like it probably had originally been Ron’s “Are you ready for the extra credit project?” That was the reason they had come up with, in case anybody noticed the group leaving.

“Yes, Professor. We are all assembled and ready to go.” They turned a corner and the rest of the explorers came into view. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Dean, Lavender, Parvati, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Seamus stood dressed in hiking clothes. Eleven adolescent faces turned towards her eagerly and she rolled her eyes.

“A couple of people, Mr. Potter?” She grumbled. He shrugged, looking a little embarrassed.

“They won’t let me go off without them anymore.” He responded and she raised an eyebrow at the determined young faces.

“As you will, Mr. Potter.” She shrugged at him. After all, the passage was just a matter of exploration. She wasn’t taking them to fight Death Eaters or anything. The others relaxed and she led them off back towards the dungeons.

The group chattered and followed her with cheerful miens. She felt like a troop leader, a very old troop leader. They headed down the stairs and away from the Slytherins and Severus’ classrooms. She felt a momentary pang at the thought of him. She really hoped that last night and this morning hadn’t ruined their fragile friendship. They had been fine over breakfast but there were seven more months of school to get through.

Tromping down a dusty corridor past unused classrooms they reached a small chapel that opened up from the hallway.

Entering the chapel, she was startled by the beauty of the place. High vaulted ceilings whitewashed a pale creamy color, tall arched windows frosted to let in a wintry light and the bleached wood pews created a feeling like being in a winter garden. Carved into every surface were dragons, lithe and slender forms that entwined and danced up pillars and across the backs of the pews. The altar was a carving of two dragons entwined to form a base, a sheet of white marble with soft gray veining topping it.

The students were staring around them, hushed by some aura of the room’s. There was simply nothing one could feel here but reverence. Kathryn knew a powerful enchantment was in force.

“Miss Granger, what did your research turn up about this place?” Kathryn asked quietly, unwilling to break the spell of this place. Hermione looked towards her with liquid brown eyes and smiled.

“It was dedicated in 1224 by Geran Gryffindor, Godric’s great-grandson. He placed it here to honor the fallen in the Wars of the Dark that waged between 1189 and 1220.” She replied, her voice equally soft.

“It’s beautiful.” Lavender whispered her voice magnified by the acoustics so that the whole group could hear her.

“You’re right, it is beautiful.” Seamus answered her, nodding.

Kathryn stepped over to the altar and turned around to face the chapel.

“There is a secret passage in this room that goes deep into the hills.” She looked around thoughtfully and then shrugged. She supposed she would have to do it the brute force way. “Alohomora Occultis!” With an elegant series of wand swirls she cast the spell. There was a rumbling behind her and she turned swiftly the see the altar itself shifting.

“Yet another spell we have never learned.” Hermione rolled her eyes in disgust. “I bet that one isn’t in any book in the library either.” Kathryn winked at her.

“Nope, sorry.” She turned to the newly revealed area of floor. What the altar had previously hidden was now clearly visible. A trapdoor with an inset handle lay flush with the stone floor.

Harry strode forward and Kathryn put out an arm to stop him.

“Mr. Potter, you have heard of curses haven’t you?” she chuckled at the look of dawning horror on his face. Taking the opportunity to teach, she gestured the group forwards. “Okay, who knows how to find out if something is cursed?”

Neville stepped forward with his hand raised. Kathryn stepped back and gestured him to proceed. His startled gaze and the shaking of his voice betrayed his nervousness.

“Me?” At her nod, he gripped his wand and stepped to the side of the trap door. He may have been nervous to start with, but his casting was sure. “Demonstrare malignitas!” As his wand arm swooped and traced a circle around the trap door, swirling colors materialized as complex runes and delicate traceries of magic formed before their eyes.

“Nicely done, Mr. Longbottom.” She smiled at him and patted his shoulder. “Your father couldn’t have done it better.” He started under her hand then turned and beamed at her.

“These are really complicated wards!” Hermione blurted, hands on her hips, mouth pursed. The others all nodded, even Kathryn was surprised.

“Correct, Miss Granger. All right, who recognizes the symbols?” She figured he might as well get in as much teaching as possible here, after all, it was supposed to be an extra credit assignment.

“Well, I recognize some of the runes, but the symbols at the four corners are really weird and the traceries between them are just not anything I’ve ever seen.” Kathryn nodded at Hermione unsurprised.

“Well, what you are seeing is a fusion of Celtic pictograms with ancient Arithmantical symbols and wand motions. The traceries are actually the paths that your wand must follow to open certain wards.” They all settled down around the trapdoor with curiosity and apprehension mingling on their faces.

Kathryn conjured parchment and a quill and began to map out rough calculations. Hermione was soon peering over her shoulder, lip caught in her teeth, watching with avid interest.

“Oh I see! That must be an alternate form of the subset symbol!” Hermione cried.

“Excellent, Miss Granger.” The two of them slipped quickly into the language of Arithmancy, discussing the properties of runes and their relations to the forces of the equations. Hermione bounced beside her, so caught up in the proofs Kathryn was working that she completely missed the bewildered expressions of her classmates.

“What is all that stuff?” Ron asked gesturing at the equations that now filled two feet of parchment.

“This, Mister Weasley, is why educated and Auror are not mutually exclusive terms.” She smirked at him while Hermione and Harry both chuckled. Ron rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“Bill does curse breaking and he doesn’t have a PhD in Arithmancy.” Ron wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“Actually, Bill says there is a lot of Arithmancy in curse breaking, Ron.” Ginny piped up, smiling shyly at Kathryn. “Bill’s twenty-five, you know.” She added.

“Ten years too young for me, but thanks for the thought, Miss Weasley.” Kathryn chuckled. They all looked at her in surprise.

“You don’t look thirty-five!” Seamus’ surprise was gratifying.

“Thirty-six actually, but I’m a witch, Mr. Finnegan, we don’t show our age the way Muggles do.” She grinned at the group of teenagers; to them thirty-six sounded really old. “Though you are all doing well at aging me prematurely.” Laughter met that sally and she finished her equation with a flourish.

She began chanting out the equation’s solution as she traced the pathways carefully. She read from her notes, having to remind herself to use the ancient names of certain symbols. When her wand at last came to rest, there was a heavy grinding noise and the handle turned of its own accord. The glowing figures and lines vanished, like mist fading in the sunlight.

“Now, Mr. Potter, you may open it.” Her voice was hushed, caught up in the reverence of this place again.
Harry reached out and pulled up the handle. With a tortured groan, the lid lifted up and a long, stone staircase was revealed leading into darkness. They all looked back and forth at each other and then smiles bloomed on every face.

“Well, let’s be about it.” Kathryn pulled out her wand. “Lumos.”