Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter series or any of its characters or plot.

Truth and Lies

Alohomora: Open
(in which it all begins)

In a certain room is a library. A set of books stand out. Engraved on them are two words: Harry Potter. The pages are filled, going back to the past and stretching on to the future.

But as they say, nothing is set in stone.

Dolores Jane Umbridge strode through the halls of Hogwarts, feeling quite delighted. The half-breed teacher of Care of Magical Creatures Rubeus Hagrid had made the mistake of teaching threstals—threstals, of all the risky things!—to the fifth years. Which had, quite clearly, been declared 'dangerous' by the Ministry.

Such a mindless idiot, she thought. She would have him out of Hogwarts in no time, (along, perhaps, with that fraud Trelawney) if this went on. They were making it far too easy. It was too bad Flitwick or McGonagall were being far too faultless for her to find any dirt on them—but nevermind, that didn't matter, not for very long, at least. Dumbledore, clearly, was losing his touch; his image was falling apart and he knew it, he would be gone very soon... and when that happened, she would be there to take over.

She smiled, too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice the students shying away from her, some in disgust. She walked on, intending to head to her office—when she heard a sudden crunch, as though the walls had moved.

That, of course, could hardly be anything special in a place like Hogwarts, but Dolores loathed anything disorderly, and so she glanced behind her.

Between two portraits was a great bronze door. It looked striking yet simple, with a small, blue sapphire in the middle of the doorknob, and it was a fairly large door—nearly as huge as the Great Hall's double doors—and Dolores was absolutely sure she had not seen it before.

For a moment her eyes narrowed in suspicion and her mouth slipped into a frown, but then her face brightened. Perhaps this was where Potter held those illegal meetings? Or where those wretched Weasley twins planned their little tricks?

Pulling her wand out, she opened the door, and was pleased to see she had no need to unlock it; it swung open easily. But if she had expected something horrifying, something dreadful, she was severely disappointed.

It was a library.

It was, admittedly, a very huge library, and while it seemed ages old, there was something majestic about the place—it looked even bigger and older than the one Irma Pince supervised. Books lined the shelves, which reached the ceiling; there was a rusty ladder off to the side to reach those at the very top, and candles floated in the air just like in the Great Hall. When Dolores looked around, though, it seemed there was no librarian at all, and she realized she was possibly the first one to enter it. There were no desks—only the books.

Was it a hidden library, then? she wondered. It certainly seemed like it.

She explored a little, and discovered that the farthest column of shelves was labelled 1991—1997. Some of the books there were longer than others; some were series, bunched together in a sort of box. Overtaken by a curiosity she had not felt in a long time, she scanned the books' titles, but saw that instead of titles, there were only names of students—some written boldly, some in very small handwriting. Dean Thomas. Seamus Finnigan. Neville Longbottom. And...

Dolores shouldn't have been so shocked, but seeing Harry Potter's name on a set of books seemed odd. Had he written them? But she glanced at the other books and dismissed the idea almost immediately; she could hardly imagine students like Vincent Crabbe or Gregory Goyle writing any sort of book.

She scowled. 'Harry Potter', it seemed, had one of the longer stories; there were seven of them, each one thicker than the last, and they were all stacked neatly next to each other in a package. She realized that these, perhaps, could be a great help in the discrimination of him, and hesitated for only a split-second before grabbing them off the shelves.

She stared hard at the books. But how would they help? They were, quite frankly, books. What information could they possibly contain that was not known already?

Then she saw a small note, on top of the package, which, in delicate, cursive script, read:

These seven books,
revealing only the truth,
shall entail the past and future,
for it regards seven years in the life
of the brave Gryffindor, Harry James Potter,
in his journey from youth to maturity, through friendship and animosity.

Dolores Jane Umbridge's face split in a wicked smile.

AN: Uh... okay. I have no idea where this came from, but whatever. RTB stories have crossed my mind more than once, so I guess I just couldn't resist any more.

So, to explain the otherwise totally deus-ex-machina library (still is, actually): I thought, "hey, if Slytherin has a secret chamber, maybe the other founders have hidden rooms, too!" and thus the library was born. I think Rowena would like something that would help her watch over the students—and in the form of knowledge! So, in my quirky little head, Salazar has a chamber, Rowena a library, and I like to think Helga invented the Room of Requirement. As for Godric... well, I dunno yet.

Also, I won't be putting in actual words from JKR's books, reactions only, 'cause One, I dunno whether The Purge (at least, I think that's what it's called) is over or not, Two, even if it is over, it's still against the rules and I'm a kind of Percy when it comes to rules, and Three, it'll take too much time. Hate to say it, but I'll probably end up discontinuing halfway.

I know this kind of story is like an easy way out for Harry (deus ex machina, what did I tell you!), and that's why I'll still try to make it as plot-ful as possible, promise! Gimme a chance (this is bordering on begging but I can't help it so just bear with me for once, 'kay?)