This room had changed. Gone were all signs of the fight that had occurred here at the end of his Second year. The damage to the pillars was all repaired and the place had actually been cleaned up. Harry wouldn't call it a great place to live, but the dust and musty smells were gone. The floor of the cavern was now a white sand that was warm enough that Harry could feel it through the soles of his trainers. A glowing orb at the peak of the cavern simulated the sun and based on the heat Harry felt, he bet its light included all of the sun's normal spectrums including infrared. With the large pool of water near the statue (which was also now cleaned but still hideously ugly), the cavern would make a great place for an indoor beach party.
" Speaker, you have come ."
Harry turned to see the basilisk emerge from a dark pipe and slither onto the sands. A sigh that sounded very much like relief emerged from the giant snake.
" You made it sound urgent that I came," Harry answered.
" I have watched you since I have awoken. I have seen you act to protect Hogwarts and her students… even when they mistrust you due to magic's cause. True Master would have been proud of your strength and protection of his dream. Claimed you as his own he would. " Harry felt an odd sense of pride at the ancient snake's words.
" True Master's Heir has lost the path. Power and ambition he has but has lost his way into madness. The ritual he used to return to a new body was a forbidden thing. Opened a pathway to creatures best left in the darkness of time. But now they are here. They seek power - power of blood, power of magic. Hogwart's wards prevent their full fury on her but they can pick at the edges. Already one of Hogwart's children has been lost to the host. The Alpha needs to defend Hogwarts and return the unwanted visitors from the past to their slumber ."
Harry felt a chill at Sasha's words. What did she mean?
" Tom's ritual woke something up ?"
" The Unseelie - creatures of the Fae. One of the Leanan Sidhe walks the halls of Hogwarts in search of victims. She wears a mortal seeming but I can smell her after she feeds. And she brings the Bendith as servants in her pursuit of mates. If they are not stopped more will pass over. The Alpha must act to protect Hogwarts. "
"The Unseelie?" Harry repeated in English. He was shocked. Like most school children he'd read stories of the old myths of the Faries. The two courts Seelie and Unseelie. Some claimed they were Light and Dark. Others Summer and Winter (And sometimes added Spring and Autumn courts too) From Harry's understanding the Seelie weren't so much Light as being less cruel in their humour and less likely to eat their human victims. The Unseelie court was malicious and cruel to any human they fell into their power - and that would be on a good day.
After entering the Wizarding world, Harry had learned of some creatures traditionally seen as members of these courts by mundanes really did exist including banshees and red caps. And magicals used fairies to light their Yule trees. But no one mentioned that the courts really existed.
"The Unseelie truly exist?" Harry asked in near disbelief. Wouldn't this have come up in Defence at some point? Remus would have mentioned it, right? Or History of… no, it didn't include any goblins.
" Banished long ago. They were legend even by the True Master's time. The Druids banished them to walk sideways from the sun ."
Druids? Druids hadn't existed in Europe or Britain since the Romans invaded. Some survived in Ireland for a while before the Catholic Church finished the purge.
" Are there any Druids left that can help us? " Harry asked.
" Rome saw the power they wielded in their defeat of the courts. But they sacrificed much for their victory. Caesar struck when they were weakened from their victory. His heirs finished what Caesar started. This fight belongs to the wizards ."
The conversation continued for a while longer without giving Harry any additional information. Sasha could feel the unseelie presence within the school's wards but not enough to locate them. Harry was getting ready to leave when Sasha made one last comment.
" The Unseelie will not truly serve the True Master's Dark Heir. But they may give the seeming of it for their amusement and to add to the chaos. This joining would be a disaster for both of your worlds, Alpha. Take care ."
Harry knew a dismissal when he heard one. (Who wanted to argue with a 1,000 year-old basilisk?) He quickly made his way back out of the Chamber and to the tube. Picking up his broom from where he'd left it, Harry rode back up the tube. Reaching the top, he hissed for the portal to open. What he found there almost made him go back to Sasha.
Padma, Hermione, Ron, Daphne and Ernie all stood glaring at him in the girls bathroom. To make matters worse, they had been joined by Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sirius and Remus. Maybe Slytherin had a bedroom hidden down there?
Before they could start shouting, Harry landed his broom and said, "We have a huge problem."
…..
A New Leash on Life
It almost worked.
Landing his broom and announcing, "We have a huge problem," distracted the assembled crowd… at least for a little while.
Harry related the news Sasha had provided. The awakening of the Unseelie due to Voldemort's ritual had caused all of the Purebloods in the room to go pale. The legends of the Fae were deeply rooted in the popular culture of the magical world. Where the mundane world had any of the same legends, the magical versions of those stories were more detailed since the magic was more understood. And while some of the Fae's weaker relatives and mixed breed types had remained in the human world, the modern Wizarding world had never faced the power of the true members of the Unseelie Court. There was also the fact that if the magical government had a problem accepting Harry's news of Voldemort's return even with evidence of his memories and the supposedly long dead Barty Crouch Jr's body, what was the likelihood of their acceptance based on the word of a basilisk?
The discussion turned to the possibility of the Unseelie Court supporting Voldemort, even superficially. Ron asked hopefully if that would bring the Seelie Court in on their side.
"I would not expect so," Dumbledore answered gently. "The Fae do not see reality as a human would. Their logic is not nearly the same. We may say, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend,' the Fae would not think the same. Supporting Tom may do nothing for the Unseelie's goals except provide a bit of fun. So the Seelie Court may just ignore our little war as they work towards their own goals."
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