Harry Potter watched absentmindedly as Luna played with the thestrals while Louie tried to snag their treats. The biting February cold gave away to a cool March, so it was not as unpleasant to be outside.

A foal gently head-butted his shoulder and Harry began petting it.

In the last weeks, Hogwarts was subjected to unprecedented changes. Beginning with the students and ending with the castle itself. Harry never expected all of his plans to begin moving so soon and he had to thank the late Albus Dumbledore for that.

The old headmaster didn't exactly leave a vacuum of power, but he left a whole generation faceless. For too long Dumbledore was considered the paragon of light and his mistakes were unable to erase his contributions to the Magical world. His death reminded the population nothing was set in stone. Apparently, it also motivated McGonagall to personally push for change at Hogwarts. Mister Fogs confided Harry how the new headmistress accepted all the proposed changes and urged the man to begin as soon as possible. So here they were.

The building and remodelling efforts began in February. Harry now thanked the small student body in Hogwarts because it was easier to block off different parts of the castle for maintenance and remodelling. Also, the wards were beginning to get installed and, in a few months, they would be activated. It would take long before everything was set, but it was moving faster than expected.

The students were also changing. Muggle and Magic Studies widened the students' perspectives on both worlds, Harry knew that this year's graduates would take the world by a storm. It was not much, but it was the begging. The world was slowly moving and the next few years would witness a revolution in the Wizarding World.

All of this should delight him, and it did, but Harry couldn't shake off the feeling that this was just the calm before the storm.

Not long ago, the Czar was replaced and the Czarina disappeared. While in any other circumstance Harry wouldn't care, the words of the Emperor still resounded on his mind. Voldemort managed to infiltrate the Czar's inner circle before he was replaced. There was also the Maxime issue with the copycat, along with the recent disappearance of Emmeline Vance and consequent murder of Dedalus Diggle.

Vance was a desk Auror in charge of the administrative work of the department. She didn't come to work one day, disappearing without a trace. Diggle worked in the Protection of Magical Species Department, he stayed late at work and was found dead next morning. No clues were found.

There was something going on but not even Auror Moody was able to discover what. If that was not enough, there also was the Hogwarts enigma.

After the fairy room, the Court decided to visit the place in the castle with similar magical wavelength fluctuations than the Forbidden Forest. It was not a nice surprise.

To gain entrance to the place, the tattered parchment found in the previous room was needed. One of its symbols, specifically. Afterwards, some kind of cursed ice that only melted with fiendfyre tried to freeze them off and a strange ghost almost managed to behead Adrian when he touched one of the five empty pedestals in the room. Now they needed to find the pieces that belonged to the pedestals so they could see what was hidden, or at least that is what the ghost said before kicking them out.

If that was not enough, there was also the founders' room.

Draco singlehandedly unlocked Rowena's room. The single clue that he had was: The reason to live. At first, the boy immersed himself in theory of magic and forced Theo and Blaise to read muggle philosophy, causing Cedric an existential crisis in the process. Then he found the answer – after almost giving himself a contusion while banging his head on a table.

Apparently, the answer was Helena, Rowena's daughter. Few were expecting the answer to be so sentimental.

The room contained manuscripts, dozens of them, and a single journal. It also contained the woman's last words to her daughter. After that, the Grey Lady disappeared from the castle.

George managed to open Salazar's room by sheer dumb luck. He was joking with Terrence about Slytherin being as soft as fresh fudge, casually mentioning that maybe the answer to his door was one of his descendants speaking Parseltongue and all the symbols were just decoration. After much prompting (read whining) on George's side, Harry simply said open in Parseltongue. No one was expecting it to actually open.

Slytherin left behind a single map with directions towards a distant forest where he found his Basilisk and an unfinished wand. The people Harry sent only found a high-end muggle neighbourhood. It was sad for the man's last instructions to be useless. Considering no one in the Court knew anything beyond the basics about wandlore, Harry decided to leave the wand where it was found.

Now they only had two rooms left and a whole new mystery to solve. At least it added some spice to the school life.

"Harry!" That was the only warning that Luna gave him before a body crashed into him. The thestral thankfully stopped before following the girl's example.

"Come on, it's getting cold," he told a giggling Luna.

"I want tapioca pudding," the girl sighed as she waved goodbye to the horses, hugging a purring Louie to her chest.

"Let's get some pudding then. Want to eat in our room?"

"Nope, let's go to the great hall. Dinner will be soon either way."

The pair walked in companionable silence until they entered the great hall, where Louie decided he had enough of their company and ran towards the Gryffindor table, jumping on Granger's book and getting lightly scolded.

"Traitor," Harry muttered under his breath. At least now Justin wouldn't fight with the cat for the food platters, it was something.

There were already people at their place, however, there was an unexpected addition. Counsellor Ciro was chatting animatedly with the members of the court. Harry and Luna exchanged looks but kept walking.

"That's amazing," Theo almost gushed.

"It's just a theory," the man said, smiling at the students.

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"A really solid one, if you ask me," Terrence said, looking avidly over some notebook.

"Harry, you have to hear this!" Draco almost yelled and the rest of his group looked at the approaching duo.

"Good evening, counsellor," Harry greeted politely while Luna waved at the man.

"Just Ciro," the man said, smiling at him. Harry noticed that the man was unusually approachable and oozed friendliness, however, he knew a well-practised facade when he saw one. "We never had the chance to chat, Harry. So tell me, should I bet on you for the next task again?"

"Are teachers allowed to bet?" asked a curious Adrian.

"Of course they are, they just make sure not to be caught. If we talk about how ethical that is, then I have nothing to say. Besides I'm not a teacher," Ciro said, winking. Unfortunately, he focused on Harry again.

"Everything can happen," Harry said noncommittally.

"That's not important," Draco whined, interrupting whatever the counsellor was trying to say, much to Harry's relief. "Do you remember that many students had those learning thingies? Ciro has a really cool theory."

Harry looked at the man with curiosity. That was interesting.

"Nah, it's just an idea I had."

"Do tell, I actually like thinking."

The man chuckled, looking genuinely amused. "A fellow nerd. Ah, I'm assuming you know the basics behind the different learning disabilities." Harry nodded and the man's smile widened. "You see, there's a strange pattern that we noticed. Students with ADHD lean towards practical subjects. They tend to have heightened senses and excel in duelling, they also have the ability to hyperfocus and are incredibly creative. The students with dyslexia that we observed have a hard time with the theoretical part, but we noticed they tend to excel in runes. They have an easy time understanding runic languages thanks to their above average visual memory. The students with language processing disorder breeze through theory. Just like that, there are many curious phenomena, but as I said before, it's just a theory."

"Actually, it is really interesting," Harry said sincerely. "It may be a derived or ancestral trait, depending on how you see it."

Seeing his friend's confused expressions, he was about to explain but the counsellor beat him to it.

"He means that it may the intermixing or perhaps evolution bettering the next generations."

"Magic improving the offspring," Harry sighed, remembering his friends' lack of knowledge and blatant disinterest in muggle science. "Where's Blaise?"

"With his girlfriend," Daphne said before Draco could, much to the blond's displeasure.

Before Draco could complain, the rest of the Court sat in the table, eyeing the counsellor with interest and making the man uncomfortable in the process.

"Well, we had a great chat, but duty calls." With a flourish, the man walked away.

"What was he doing here?" asked a curious Cedric.

"Came to chat," Theo said with a shrug.

While everyone began chatting, Fleur remained silent, frowning slightly at her plate.

"Everything fine?" Harry asked the girl in a muted tone.

"Yes, yes. It's just that... It's stupid."

That answer did nothing to appease him, obviously. "I don't think so."

Fleur bit her lip, but ended up sighing. "That man has a really strange aura, that's it. Nothing to worry about, really. I just feel a little uncomfortable."

"Then he won't be welcomed in the table," Harry said, smiling at the surprised girl. "To be honest, I don't like his beard."

"It clashes horribly with the shaved head," Fleur giggled.

"Why are we whispering?" Terrence asked out of the blue and Fleur's giggles turned into full-blown laughter.

Harry and Fleur shared a smile and refused to answer their questioning friends.

"I think today is a good day for Harry to talk with the Sorting hat," Luna said while munching on a bun.

"I will ask McGonagall then," Harry sighed, saying goodbye to his tranquil night.

"Nope, the Sorting hat is waiting for you in the Room of Requirement."

Harry raised an inquisitive eyebrow but Luna refused to elaborate her answer, ignoring everyone in favour of the food. So he decided to wait and see what happened.

That is how he ended up walking up alone to the seventh floor after dinner. Harry could faintly hear the echoes of Peeve's laughter and knew he would have to take a detour on his way back to help whatever students the damned poltergeist pranked. Why was the thing not banished yet?

Once Harry entered the room of requirement, he was greeted by the Sorting hat humming a merry song. It was on an old desk, the only furniture in the empty room.

"Oh, the King has arrived. Thou have questions, I know that. I look at thee and know the Hogwarts Mystery the King has found. And me! Thy faithful hat strives to serve!" it sang in its pleasant baritone voice, looking far too pleased with itself.

"So how did you know that?"

"Ah, the Lady is no longer silent, she now whispers to me." Perhaps Harry was better off not knowing.

"Tell me then what does the school hide?"

Much to Harry's confusion, the hat chuckled lightly. He had a really bad feeling about this.

"The Lady holds many secrets. As you know, this castle was born to be a safe haven for our people, however, it had a second purpose. Each of the founders hid their demons in these walls, but they were not the only ones. You see, Harry Potter, the magical world is a dangerous place. Human nature pushes mages to create the most heinous tools to harm their own. Those are the secrets the Lady hides. If you are a wise man, you will leave this room and forget about it."

Harry stared at the hat, his stoic mask in place. It sighed dramatically.

"Ah, I also forgot stupidity is part of human nature... Mmm, let's see, what should I tell you? There are many secrets that won't be revealed to you, so don't try to unveil them unless you want to lose the Lady's blessing. That said, there is a reason why this particular secret is being revealed to you, Harry Potter. It's your legacy... No surprise, eh? So boring."

As much as he wanted to scowl at the hat, Harry refused to give it the satisfaction.

"Right then, let's see. I'm assuming you know the tale of the Three Brothers, a classic. It was a tad embellished throughout the generations, but the roots remain unchanged. Mmm, something tells me you won't appreciate my version of the story."

"And that something is right," Harry deadpanned.

"Hmp, so impatient. Whatever. Ignotus, Cadmus, and Antioch – the Peverell brothers. None of them attended Hogwarts, but Ignotus had a somewhat scandalous liaison with Helga. Those three used really old magic to create what is known as the Deathly Hallows. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but one day Ignotus appeared inside the castle and took Helga away. She returned after two weeks and refused to leave her quarters. After that, she secretly created a room to hide a simple black stone. Curious, especially because she asked the other founders' help when she normally did everything herself.

"A year later, Ignotus returned. This time he carried a ring that Salazar decided to safeguard, despite of Ignotus' warnings. I heard the most curious conversation between those two and Helga. You see, Harry Potter, the magic the Peverell brothers used had a heavy price and they paid for it. I just know Antioch's wand was destroyed and, despite of all Ignotus' efforts, the stone was indestructible, so it was hidden here.

"Apparently, Ignotus fooled Cadmus to give him the stone after he discovered his brother brought back to life his beloved. So Ignotus crafted a ring and told Cadmus the stone was there when he changed it with a duplicate of his creation. Months later, Ignotus found his brother dead and, unfortunately, the dead woman didn't disappear. She was actually trying to use the ring for some ritual. In the end, Ignotus buried Cadmus and returned the woman where she belonged."

"So that stone is hidden here."

"Not exactly, but you have the gist."

"What about the thing hidden in the Forbidden Forest?"

"Part of the only mystery that is being revealed to you, Harry Potter," the hat said in a less playful tone. "Despite of what you may think, I don't hold the Lady's secrets, I just know the few things she whispered to me throughout the years... Beware, dear child. The more you try to discover, the less your blessing will last. After all, not even the love of a mother is fully able to stop death."

After that, the hat went totally silent. Harry stared at it for a minute, hoping to earn more information, but nothing happened. With a sigh, he left the room.

That night, Harry spent long hours thinking. What should he do next? Should he try to solve the mystery or should he forget about it? Should he tell the others?

In the end, he decided to submit the decision to vote. Harry would tell his Court everything and they would decide the course of action. A big part of him hoped they decided to go ahead and discover the secrets Hogwarts hid.