Title: Revealing Ink

Chapter Eighteen: Stone, Results and Clues

Ships: HP/DG/(HG?) NL/TD

Rating: M (For later chapters)

Warnings: Underage Drinking

Key: "Speech" 'Thoughts' {Foreign Language} ~Parseltongue~ SPELLS

A/N: Favs: 1,189 Follows: 1,652 Reviews: 473 Views: 242,021

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Usual disclaimer: I own none of the characters in the Harry Potter Universe, Just my own OCs

Saturday night while everyone was just hanging out, Harry finally decided to let everyone in on him being Lord Potter. Neville was unsurprised, he knew that he would be able to wear the Longbottom mantel after his fifteenth birthday due to his parents condition. He knew that he could ascend at the age of thirteen if he was last of his line, luckily that was not the case. Tracy and Hermione were shocked and asked the most questions. After everyone was brought up to date they eventually went to bed. The next morning they would be heading back to school and Harry and Neville wanted to make sure the girls weren't late.

After settling on the bed Harry started to slowly drift off. Daphne entered the room around an hour later to find Harry asleep on his back in only a pair of boxers. Blushing she shook her head before crawling onto the bed with him and snuggling into his chest. She pulled the blanket over them as she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Sunday January 8, 1995

After a relaxing morning which included Harry kissing/snogging Daphne good morning, a leisurely breakfast and a taxi back to King's Cross. Harry and Neville went on a trip to the market to gather some food supplies for the trunk since the girls had now decided that Harry would be the chef on weekend mornings and the occasional dinner, not to mention that the girls were known to enjoy midnight snacks during their slumber parties.

Harry and Neville eventually popped back to Hogsmeade and waited for the other students to arrive while in the alley behind Zonko's under a Notice-Me-NotCharm. When they saw the students passing the alley Harry shrunk his trunk and put it in his pocket and joined the girls who were loitering at the mouth of the alley.

They went their separate ways for the feast after Harry and Neville gave their two Slytherin witches kisses. Harry sat next to Hermione while Neville settled across from them. As the meal wore on Harry couldn't stop and notice that Tracy and Daphne were getting several glances from Malfoy and Nott. Harry quietly informed Neville and Hermione that they needed to break away from the crowd since he still needed to set up the trunk for Daphne and Tracy in the Hangout.

After the feast was released for the night Harry, Neville and Hermione made their way out of the Great Hall and saw Malfoy and Nott making their way up the stairs. Since they were obviously not heading to the dungeons, Harry gestured them to hurry up. They had done a good job of keeping the average Slytherin from finding the Hangout by use of secret tunnels and several different charms, they were not about to allow the worst three in their year follow and probably attack Daphne and Tracy.

Harry quickly pulled the invisibility cloak out and threw it over them as they caught up to Malfoy and Nott. As they were three corridors away from the Hangout they saw Daphne and Tracy tiredly making their way further down the hall. Draco was whispering to Nott, "When we find out where they have been hiding, I say we show them a lesson for disrespecting proper Purebloods. After we have them where we want them we should enjoy ourselves for a while before we drag them back to the common room and let the other guys have their fun. They need to be put back in their place and learn that they should not be hanging out with Potter and his little band of Misfits. I can't wait to see the look on their faces when we deflower th…"

Whatever else was going to come out of his mouth was cut off by Banishing Charm from Hermione and a Bludgeoning Charm from Harry's right hand. His left hand was already aimed at Nott and he repeated the Bludgeoning Charm at Nott as Neville cast a Stupify at the same boy. Both Slytherins were thrown into the nearest wall by the Bludgeoners, Malfoy much harder as he was assisted by the Banisher.

Daphne and Tracy turned at the sound of the CRUNCH that Malfoy caused when his shoulder slammed into the wall. They were surprised to their previous housemates seemingly unconscious against the wall until Harry, Hermione and Neville removed the invisibility cloak and stomped over to the downed classmates. The girls ran up to the trio as Harry was casting unknown charms on the two downed Slytherins. After he was done he handed the trunk to Neville and told him to set it up and then to head straight to the common room, he would join them shortly.

Daphne became worried and pulled him into a hug, "Don't worry Daph. We all used our rings, they can't trace it back to our wands. I'm just going to leave them where they will be found and taken to Madam Pomfrey." He gave her a kiss before they left. As he levitated the two miscreants down the hall he decided he would need to make his way quickly up to the common room to avoid suspicion.

As he came to the second floor landing he felt the rage reenter his system as he thought about what they were planning on doing. He called for Dobby them levitated them over the edge of the railing. Holding them upright he casted Cushioning Charms on their heads, necks and backs before banishing them into the floor. While they would most likely break both legs, he didn't want to kill them, plus Madam Pomfrey would have them fixed up over night with a healthy and extremely uncomfortable dosage of Skele-Grow. As he saw them hit the floor of the Entrance Hall he had Dobby pop him down the hall from the Fat Lady.

Harry calmly entered the common room to see both Hermione and Neville settling down in chairs by the fire. He went over to join them, settling down on the floor next to Hermione's chair and letting them know curtly, "They will be found shortly." With that being said all three sat in relative silence for a few minutes before all three headed up to bed.

The next few days were full of rumors. Malfoy and Nott after spending a night having their leg bones vanished and regrown, plus Malfoy having most of his shoulder vanished and regrown had insisted that they were ambushed by a group of no less than ten Gryffindors while trying to go back to their dorms. While this rumor was popular another rumor was quietly making its way around the castle. Malfoy and Nott were attacked to prevent the assault and rape of two unknowing witches. While people found the rumors coming from Malfoy and Nott to be entertaining the majority of students, and staff as well if truth be told, were inclined to believe the second rumor.

Malfoy and Nott spent the next few weeks being randomly hexed by most of the witches in the castle as they made their way through the halls. Madam Pomfrey even started making them wait while she took care of other less severe cases, while this was a passive aggressive stance, it was not like she could leave them to suffer, her job and healer oaths required that she treat them even if she felt that they deserved it.

The first week back to classes resulted in the group plus most of the new allies who were not busy joining Harry in trying to figure out the clue that was the glittering rock. Harry and the other spent quite a bit if time trying to figure out what it could mean before Hermione stated that it looked like the kind of stone that came in a rock tumbler kit, only much larger.

After explaining the concept to the Purebloods in the room, they figured what the hell and started trying to clean the stone up. After pelting it with water, scrubbing it finally Lee Jordan transfigured a hammer and slammed it into the stone. Everyone looked at him in shock with the Patil twins, Susan and Hannah yelling at him until a portion of the stone fell away revealing a luminescent gem peeking out where the stone fell away.

After that soon all the men in the group attacked the stone with transfigured hammers. After an hour and a half with the men working for five to ten minutes a pair before switching out the floor was covered in rock chips and before them sat a luminescent gem that was yellow in color.

Harry looked closely and could see what appeared to be floating writing in the center of the gem. While the script was discernible it was not in any language or rune form that he knew. After letting everyone attempt to read it he decided to take it to Professor Babbling, he would not ask her to translate it for him, but it might point him in the right direction to finding out how to translate it.

After spending the first weekend revealing the gem, group and new allies spent plenty of time hanging out and really getting to know each other. The next week passed quickly with Harry gaining new people to trust and call friends.

Saturday January 21, 1995

Professor Babbling was captivated by the stone but did not know the language that the script was in. They soon returned to the usually talks of runes till Saturday when Harry entered her office. As Harry took his usual seat by her fire he saw her pull out an envelope. She seemed more excited than usual today as she took the envelope and handed it to him. He looked down at the envelope, only then noticing the O.W.L. & N.E.W.T. logo on the corner. Harry slowly opened the envelope and pulled out the parchment with his eyes still closed. Before he looked he thought back to the day he had left Neville alone for the day so that he could take his exams.

*FLASHBACK*

Thursday December 22, 1994

Harry woke up early and went to work out to burn off some steam before his testing that was scheduled for 0900, luckily there would be plenty of people testing today so he was hoping to try to fade into the crowd. Last thing he needed was to be mobbed by reporters wanting to know why the Champion was in the Ministry of Magic.

Harry ate a light breakfast before leaving the trunk and heading to the Ministry of Magic. Upon arrival he met with the other group of students and was escorted to a classroom that was connected to the atrium. After being given a quill and ink that were charmed to prevent cheating they were given the written portion of the test and told that they had four hours to finish then lunch would be served in the cafeteria. Harry had settled in and started working on the test. He had managed to finish double checking it with eight minutes to spare.

After going into the cafeteria and finishing a quick lunch he went back to the classroom which now sported several work benches instead of desks. He took a work bench near the door and waited for everyone to return. As soon as everyone was back from lunch they were told to pick a workbench. The examiners walked around giving everyone a list of runes that needed to be wrote out onto parchment. After they were done they were to raise their hand to alert an examiner. If they were found to be acceptable they were given a list that needed to be carved out onto normal stone and wooden blanks. Following the same procedure, if those were found acceptable they were given actual rune stones to carve and charge with a small amount of magic to activate the rune. If the rune stones showed the correct effect then they were done with the exam. Anyone who did not advance to the next level was told they would need to study before attempting the exam again.

Harry was given his list of definitions, after everyone had a list the examiners informed everyone that they had different lists so peeking at the person next to you would be pointless. They were told to begin, Harry looked and saw that he had fifty different definitions to write out the runes for. The best way to finish that part, according to Professor Babbling, was to be exact with the drawing of your runes. Sloppily trying to rush would lead to possibly not advancing to the next level of the test. Harry quickly and precisely transcribed the fifty different runes and was finished after approximately an hour.

After being checked by an examiner he was given a list of ten runes and a fourteen inch by two inch by one inch wooden blank and a six inch by two inch by one inch stone blank, both blanks had hash marks every two inches. Seven runes were marked for wood and three were marked for stone, each rune would have to be carved into the two by two inch space marked by the hash marks. They would need to be centered and exact, carved down to a quarter inch deep on the wood and an eighth inch deep on the stone. Along with the blanks they were given a set of standard wood working chisels, standard masonry chisels as well as some sticks of charcoal to mark the rune before carving. The reason for the standard chisels was that if you made a mistake using the older slower method than you would have destroyed the rune using the new chisels which cut through stone or wood the same as a hot knife through butter.

Harry went to work slowly carving out the given runes. The ten runes took an hour and a half to finish them to perfection, this involved slowly carving then measuring depth before carving more out and measuring again. After the rune was perfect he went back over the runes with fine grit sandpaper to remove and burrs that might interfere with the rune. The sanding was the slowest part as he had to make sure that he didn't alter the shape or depth by sanding too much.

After the examiner gave him the go ahead he was brought two rune stones, they were five inches by five inches and three inches. He was also given a set of rune carving chisels and two runes to carve. The runes needed to be an inch and a half deep then slowly charged till they reached the desired effect. The levitation rune needed to stably levitate the stone six inches off the table. The second rune was water conjuring rune that had to be attached to a water spout, the magic had to be slowly charged till the stream of water was a half inch wide and steady.

Harry set to work and started drawing and carving both runes, a half hour later he was done with the carving. It took almost twenty minutes before the levitation rune was charged properly next to a ruler next he started charging the rune stone that he had affixed on top of the water spout. This one had to be done slowly as there was a lag between the charge and the appearance of the water. So he would have to slowly charge the rune then wait and measure the water stream before pouring more magic into the rune. Slowly but surely he finally finished after thirty five minutes. The examiner checked his work before telling him that he could go and his results would be mailed to his sponsor/professor in a couple weeks.

It was close to 1830 before Harry dragged himself back into his trunk where he spent the night drinking Butterale with Neville as they celebrated him taking his early O.W.L.

*End FLASHBACK*

Harry opened his eyes and looked down at the results of his nine hour ordeal.

Ordinary Wizarding Levels

Winter Independent Examination – Ancient Runes

December 22, 1995

Examiners:

Runemaster – J. Jackson

Runemaster – J. Pearson

Runemaster – P. R. Moreno

Runemaster – L. L. Moreno

Grades:

Passing

OH – Owl with Honors (95%-100%)

O – Owl (85%-94%)

EE – Exceeds Expectations (75%-84%)

A – Acceptable (65%-74%)

Failing

P – Poor (45%-64%)

D – Dreadful (25%-44%)

T – Troll (0%-24%)

Ancient Runes:

Written – OH (99%)

Practical – OH (98%)

Overall - OH (99%)

Congratulations on obtaining an Owl with Honors in Ancient Runes during the Winter Independent O.W.L. Examination

Wizarding Examination Authority

Professor Griselda Marchbanks

Harry felt the parchment start to slip through his finger's as he let out a breath that he had not realized he was holding. As the parchment slipped from his hand he felt it grabbed by Professor Babbling. She held it but looked to him first prior to reading, after getting a nod from Harry she quickly read the scores. Harry let out a laugh when the Professor let out an ecstatic WHOOP. After several minutes of her congratulating him and advising him that she had not seen such high O.W.L. scores in quite a few years, she had been for a little over a decade. She quickly assigned three sixth year rune projects that Harry would have to have done by mid-March. Harry left the office in a great mood and quickly went to inform his friends at the Hangout about his O.W.L. scores.

That night Daphne pulled together a little party for Harry. It was only Neville, Tracy and Hermione but that didn't make it any less meaningful for Harry. They all stayed up late into the night drinking Butterale, joking around and in the case of Neville and Tracy planning out their first tattoos. Neville was planning for Gryffindor Lion while Tracy was still hashing out her idea for a design but was leaning toward a traditional Koi in honor of her Japanese heritage.

As the night wore on eventually they went off to bed, the girls taking the second bedroom while Harry and Neville stayed up drinking and talking. Neville eventually noticed that Harry had fallen asleep in his chair. Neville chuckled at Harry who had his head tilted back and looked to be drooling a bit. In the silence that followed Neville started looking around as he noticed a slight grinding noise. Neville followed the noise until he found the source, the clue gem, sitting right next to him on the end table next to his chair.

While leaning closer to try hearing the sound better, he nudged the gem causing it to fall to the floor. Instead of the expected sound of the large heavy gem crashing into the hard wood planking, he heard what sounded like a low gravelly voice mumbling. Neville quickly jumped onto the floor to listen to what it was saying but the voice had faded. He picked up the gem and dropped it again but could only catch a few words before the sound faded again. After attempting it several times he eventually lost his temper and lobbed it at the wall. Neville stared at the flying gem as it made its way across the room, 'Maybe next time I should wait until I'm not buzzing before I try to figure this out.'

As the gem made contact with the wall it began chanting loudly in a gravelly voice,

"You will lose what you hold most dear,

To find us you will need to follow your ear.

You will not find them above the ground,

They will be hidden where this gem was found.

You will face traps, obstacles and such,

Best prepare yourself, for you will face much.

You only have three hours to seek,

Longer than that and the outlook is bleak.

You will not find them above the ground,

They will be hidden where this gem was found."

Neville sat back in shock as the voice grew progressively quieter as the chanting went on. He looked up to see Hermione opening the door to the bedroom, "Will you please quiet down, some of us are trying to sleep."

Neville shook his head to clear out the cob webs before he looked back at her, "Wake up the other girls, I think I just figured out the clue." He stood up and started to shake Harry awake.

Hermione stood in the doorway with her head cocked in confusion before what he said sunk in. Her eyes widened as she quickly turned around and went to wake up the other two girls from their sleep.

After around five minutes everyone was gathered in the sitting room with a pot of coffee being passed around while Neville told them what had happened. Harry slowly got up and went to pick up the gem and came back to his seat.

"So you threw this at the wall and it started talking?" Harry asked skeptically

"Yeah, now just throw it at the wall, nice and hard, and get ready to copy down the clue." Neville told Harry while indicating Daphne at the end since she had a piece of parchment out with a quill.

Harry shrugged and lobbed the gem like a quaffle as he did during quidditch drills. When it struck the wall the gravelly voice once again started chanting. Daphne quickly got over her shock and began jotting down the chant. It took another throw before she had it all down and a third while she checked for accuracy.

They all sat back to think over the clue, it would be several hours before they decided to call it a night. The only thing that they had come up with was that Harry would have to find Daphne and he only had three hours to do it. They figured that in the morning they would call together the rest of the group and maybe the new allies to see if they could shine more light on the clue.

A/N: OK Eighteenth chapter done, I hope to be able to finish the next chapter soon.

Thanks for reading