A Ghoul's Warning

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Severus dared to look out of the window, but he saw nothing there beyond the porch and gardens. Thinking it's fine, he went to help Harry, but it felt like something was watching him from a distance ...

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Technically no one owns Hogwarts. The only people who should be there during the summer is a few house elves, Mr. Filtch, the caretaker, his cat, occasionally Fawkes and Hagrid, the groundskeeper. Other than that no else should be there, but there's very little keeping people out.

What little security there was actually weakens during that block of time of year because of some very old runes that react to constellations. The castle basically switches from defensive to charging up with the magic from the star constellations. That's why, despite having magical transportation, the students are made to stay much of the year and they all must leave for the summer.

Most people wouldn't dare go to the castle with those conditions. It's even less enticing with the dangerous forest right there and only two people, one that doesn't even have magic, nearby to help. Of course, no one, even teachers and staff even know about it. Severus wasn't satisfied with the security already, which is why Severus didn't feel safe there.

Imagine how pissed the potion master would be if he knew. Severus' first encounter with the ghoul was right on the edge of that time.

Now imagine how annoyed the goblins were when they realized they could easily enter the school through the floo network. Many believed that the school was just closed off, but on second thought those claims did come from Dumbledore so who knows. The man was money hungry to the point where he stole multiple inheritances so why bother wasting money on updating runes, especially if you want the school dangerous to some degree. It's possible that he even removed some protections ...

Speaking of the headmaster, the team of goblins that made this trip had to immediately hide because that very person walked in. Thankfully, the goblins managed to hide behind some heavy bookcase in the obnoxiously large office. For whatever reason Dumbledore burned a scrap of something and flooed away. Of course, the goblins waited a moment case he came back,

"Gather the ashes. We'll deliver it and come back." One goblin said and as the other goblin pulled out a broom and dustpan.

As the dust was literally swept up, the head goblin snapped his claws. A little gold mouse popped out of his pocket. That mouse zipped out of the office. By the time it returned the ashes were cleaned up, which took only a few minutes.

"Are we sure only ashes are left?" The goblin carrying the dust pan asked.

"Yes ... The house elves already cleaned so there should be only be the ashes we saw." The goblin said absentmindedly as the mouse crawled into his hand. The mouse reported something that was just loud enough for him to hear. "The mouse followed Dumbledore's scent all the way to Severus' door. His living quarters could be compromised. We should get a few more people involved and as they investigate we can get the basilisk remains."

Thankfully, they returned to Gringotts and made their report right before Severus arrived. "In fact, a bigger team was assembled by the time Severus went back home. Two teams, technically.

While both teams returned to Hogwarts and went down to the lower levels, each team had a different task. The original team went to complete their original task, which was getting to the basilisk. As for the brand new second team, they were headed towards the potion master's living quarters.

The Gringotts employees moved with urgency for a few reasons. Obviously Harry's horcrux issue was one reason, but the scrap was another. That crumpled scrap that Dumbledore burned was reassembled with a little magic. It was the list written up on itt that was concerning.