Chronicles of Camelot

The power of a name

After dinner, Harry, Luna, Hermione and Neville all left the Great Hall together, a couple of the students feeling a sense of confusion and bewilderment as to the sight of a Ravenclaw and three Gryffindors all heading in the same direction. Moving upwards through the school, Harry continued his movements further up until he reached the North Tower on the seventh floor, a part of him using his knowledge of Hogwarts to lead the way as he explained, "There's a reason Gryffindor Tower is on the seventh floor you know? It's because of the Wing and, if I'm right, then somewhere around…here we go."

He had stopped in front of what appeared to be a large statue of a proud and noble warrior, the stairway to the North Tower winding around them, "This is the entrance?" asked Hermione, "I must have walked past this corridor at least a hundred times."

"Maybe," Harry agreed, before he smiled slyly as he drew Excalibur from its sheath as he added, "But you wouldn't have gotten any further than this without…the key." He lifted the sword high and, as Luna, Neville and Hermione all watched, Harry then tapped the statue's heart with the sword, before he spoke with a voice of authority, "I, Harry James Potter, Heir of Godric Gryffindor, seek access to the Inner Sanctum known as the Lion's Wing: I present the sword of the King, Excalibur, as a sign of my Lordship and allow the three beings escorting me, along with the Order of Pendragon, to enter the Lion's Wing and leave as they wish."

There was a moment's pause before Luna and Neville gasped as the statue then came to life, its stony gaze on the sword at its chest, before it looked into Harry's eyes and, seeing the silver glow from his heterochromic gaze, bowed with respect as he spoke in a noble voice. "Welcome sire: I am Lancelot, defender of the Wing and friend to Lord Gryffindor; the Chambers of the Lion await you: have you a password for access?"

"I have," Harry replied, looking to the others as he explained, "Password is Myrrdin's Valour, after the force of magic possessed by those sired by Emrys, the Holy Knights."

"Password accepted," Lancelot replied, before he visibly leaped down off his plinth and, as Harry watched, the warrior then pressed against the stone base of his plinth, a set of stairs appearing out of nowhere, their path leading downwards as if into the very foundations of Hogwarts herself. Following the path downwards, his small entourage following behind, Harry kept Excalibur held out, his eyes looking ahead as the floor beneath their feet evened out, revealing a solid golden archway with two large iron doors, the lock to which was shaped like the weapon in Harry's hand.

With a nod of understanding, Harry pushed Excalibur into the indentation, his magic resonating through the doorway as he felt the power and knowledge of Gryffindor coming to his aid, his silver eye shining brightly as Excalibur began to glow with a golden light, before there was a click and the doors opened, Harry's reaction to the room beyond being summed up by the words of his blood-brother.

"Bloody hell!"

'That's an understatement,' thought Harry, looking at the room before them: it was similar to the Gryffindor Common Room, except that it also had a long table suited for meeting and study, a set of golden-decorated leather chairs situated around the table, an image of Excalibur engraved into the fine wooden base of the table. Other than that, Harry also noticed three stairways, all of which led upwards, as well as a pair of doors on the left and right sides of the room. Moving to the left, Harry and Hermione gasped as they found a grand library, which was filled with, quite possibly, even more books and resources than those of the Hogwarts Library; there was even a large study area and central training field that was covered by a damage-reducing ward that made it safe to battle with more than magic.

Leaving the Library, Harry moved to the next room on the left, where he found a fully-functioning Potions Laboratory and clearly well-stocked supply of ingredients and texts on the subject; as he browsed the ingredients, Harry then noticed that the Wing stocked items that even Severus Snape would kill to possess, such as a full vial of unicorn blood and what appeared to be samples from a dragon's heart; Harry was looking forwards to Potions this year; that was for sure.