“Who are you?” asked a blonde haired lady who was kneeling in the garden. I had not seen her before.
“Aurelia Greyson,” I said quickly, fingers twisted in my horse’s bridle.
The lady stood up and looked at me. With my long golden-red hair falling in tangles past my waist and my green tunic dirty at the hem, I was a mess. After all, I had traveled a fortnight to get here, riding on horseback.
“Where are your companions?” the woman asked.
“I came alone,” I said truthfully, dusting myself off.
“You cannot be more than fourteen. What are you doing here?”
“I am fifteen. And I’m looking for my uncle, Godric,” I told her. “But I did not know that he had a wife-”
“I am not his wife! I am Helga Hufflepuff, wife of Salis Hufflepuff,” the woman said crossly. “What are you doing out here alone?”
“I told you, I’m looking for my uncle, Godric,” I repeated.
“Who is looking for me?” inquired a voice from behind me.
I spun around. From the forest that the garden bordered two men had appeared. One tall and fair of hair, that was partially covered by a pointed wizard hat. He had a sword at his belt. The other man was slightly forlorn with a long black beard. The gaunt one looked briefly at me with sharp green eyes that reminded me of the cat that caught mice back home.
The fair-haired one must have been the brother that my mother was always talking about, the brave one who had slain a dragon. “I am,” I said, addressing the taller man.
“And you would be?” he asked, holding the hilt of his sword, looking at me with uncertainty.
“I am Aurelia, the daughter of your sister, Elaine,” I said, curtsying.
“What are you doing so far from the Valley?” my Uncle asked, taking in my appearance with his hazel eyes that mine mirrored. “Elaine would not send you here. I thought that she was-”
“My mother is dead,” I murmured softly. “She died fourteen days ago, and I have been on route here ever since.”
¤¤¤
Godric had taken me to his study up in a tower. He did not talk to me much, but he sat down across from me at his desk. Interlocking his fingers, he looked at me, inquisitively. “So, how did it happen?” he asked after a long period of silence as thick as the night.
“How it always does,” I said. “She would not use her magic to stop them-”
“Them? Who is them?”
I fiddled with the cuff of my sleeve.
“Aurelia....” He sighed. He propped his head up on one hand and ran his fingers through his hair.
“They were the people who mother counted as friends. She would use her magic to help them and then they betrayed her, and called her a witch, as if it was a bad thing. She would not listen to me, she didn’t use any magic to save herself-”
“How tragic,” said Godric. Up close I could see that he was indeed ten years older than my mother, he was beginning to get lines beside his eyes and there was a certain tiredness about him that I had sensed in my father after my brother died, and later my mother.
“She told me that if anything ever happened I should find you at Hogwarts castle, and you would take care of me,” I concluded.
“Why not live with your father?” asked Godric, who was standing up now. Walking over the window, the sunset illuminated his face, turning it as luminescent as amber.
“He isn’t a wizard, my mother thought that I should be with someone who could teach me more in the art,” I explained.
“Elaine was right,” he mused. “After all, I am a teacher.” Glancing over his shoulder at me, he added, “That is what Hogwarts is, a school, or will be once we finalize a few things. Right now we are debating a couple matters.” He cut himself off, and turned back to the window. “If you want you could stay here, and, come the harvest, there will be other students, at least forty of them, here.”
“Thank you, Godric!” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet. Embarrassed that I had forgotten myself, I curtseyed. “I mean, thank you very much, uncle.”
“”'Twas nothing,” said Godric.
¤¤¤
Godric allowed me to meet his other companions and stay in the castle. I was amazed to learn that there were two women, Rowena Ravenclaw as well as Helga Hufflepuff. I had never heard of such a thing, my mother had been a healer, but being a teacher for more than just your children was completely taboo.
Apparently Ravenclaw had been teaching for a while and was the oldest of the four.
“She taught me when I was your age,” whispered Hufflepuff one night. “And I have heard that she was taught by Merlin himself. I never bothered to ask, it is not polite. She is clever, but she gets cross rather easily.”
Ravenclaw never spoke much, but it was more her presence that filled the silence and her expression that did the talking. Her long black hair had streaks of grey going through it, and her stern face was worn with age. When ever she looked at me, I could feel her sapphire blue eyes pierce into me, and take in everything that I was thinking.
“It’s not polite to stare,” she told me crossly one day when she was in the library, bending over a book.
“Sorry,” I apologized quickly.
“What do you want Aurelia?” asked Ravenclaw.
“Nothing-”
“Everyone wants something,” interjected Slytherin, who had come up from behind me.
Slytherin, Salazar Slytherin. That was the name of the thin, dark haired man. He was younger than Hufflepuff and had to be less than ten years older than me. Despite his age, according to Godric, he was cunning and they were best friends. But, Godric had warned me of him, since he could sometimes prove to be stubborn and singled minded to the point of insanity.
Leaning against a bookshelf he looked from me to Ravenclaw.
“And some people will do anything to get what they want, even if it means their own death,” snapped Ravenclaw. She might as well have added ‘people like you.’
Slytherin raised an eyebrow. “Really, I never knew.”
Slytherin always had this way of talking that made it hard to tell whether or not he was being sincere or sarcastic. He had to have been one of the most difficult people to get a long with, and I wondered why Godric and he were best friends.
“Of course you knew that,” laughed Godric who had followed Slytherin. “She was describing you.”
“I was being sarcastic,” sneered Slytherin. This again made me wonder whether or not he was.
“If the both of you are ready, Helga and I are ready to begin,” said Godric, who had come in, once again wearing his wizard hat.
“What?” I asked.
“We are going to have a meeting,” said Ravenclaw. “There are still some things that we need to discuss before the school opens in November.”
“I tell you it’s going to have to be July,” said Slytherin.
“Like that,” said Godric.
I smiled slightly. “Can I come?” I asked hopefully.
“No,” snapped Slytherin quickly, glaring at me.
“If she is quiet than she should not be much of a problem,” reasoned Godric.
“That is true,” said Ravenclaw. “Someone should at least be a witness to this so as to make sure that everything is fair. That is how Helga would say it?”
Shrugging, Slytherin nodded. “Oh, very well.”
it was a short walk to the Great Hall. I hadn't been in here often. I had only had a few glimpses of the inside of it. I looked up at the ceiling and exclaimed in wonder.
“Rowena is in the process of enchanting it,” said Slytherin who was behind me. I had not known how close behind me he was, so I jumped. “It’s not done yet, as you can see they need so work over there in that corner.”
“Is it supposed to mimic the sky?” I asked.
“Exactly,” said Ravenclaw, looking over her shoulder as she sat down at the round table that Godric had placed in the center of the hall.
“Wouldn’t glass have been simpler?” I asked as Slytherin sat down opposite Godric and to the left of Hufflepuff.
“Not practical, though,” said Hufflepuff.
“Well, I think it is brilliant,” interjected Godric. “Now we still have some things to discuss.”
He continued as if I wasn’t there. I stood, distanced, watching the four of them talk.
“The problem still remains,” Slytherin was saying at least an hour into the debate, by which time I was tired, and sitting down on the ground. “Who are we going to admit into Hogwarts?”
“I thought we had settled that,” murmured Ravenclaw to Godric, “It will be open to both boys and girls.”
“I’m talking about which of those boys and girls-” started Slytherin.
“How about ages ten to twenty?” suggested Hufflepuff. “That way we would have the longest time to teach them-”
“Ten to eighteen,” interrupted Godric. “By twenty they should be married or building a life. If we kept them that long they would be ill-benefited-”
“At age ten, quite a few children still don’t have enough magic to go to school. They don’t have quite enough control as they would need to in order to be with other students. They would be overwhelmed and there would be a chance of accidents,” stated Ravenclaw. “Eleven would be better suited.”
“Fine, eleven to eighteen,” concluded Godric. “Satisfied Salazar?”
“No, I am not.” Slytherin was leaning back in his chair, looking at a distant corner, as if he could see things that the rest of us could not. “The question is which of those boys and girls, ages eleven to eighteen will be allowed to attend.”
The hall fell silent, each of them mused for a while, pondering their own answer to his question. I could feel the tension settle thickly before anything was even said.
“Well that’s obvious,” said Hufflepuff. “They have to be magical.”
“Not only should they be magical, they should be brave,” declared Godric boldly.
“And smart, they should at least have some wits about them, otherwise we won’t be able to teach them,” explained Ravenclaw.
“Shouldn’t we be able to teach everyone equally so long as they have magical potential?” asked Hufflepuff meekly. “I think that even the people who aren’t the best or the bravest should have a chance to have an education and prove themselves. Being smart, whilst helpful, is not everything, and not everyone is as brave as you are, Godric.”
“What you are forgetting is the most important part,” snapped Slytherin. “You forget what separates the inferior from the superior, you have forgotten what makes the wizard. You have not mentioned the key thing that should be what determines whether or not the child should be allowed to go to Hogwarts.” He was leaning over the table, his dark eyes locked on Godric.
“Which is?” inquired Godric, bravely, trying to remain in control of his friend.
“His blood,” responded Slytherin, harshly. “He has to have wizard blood, preferably only wizard blood in his veins. Those are the only ones that are worth living. Sure, you have to have wits, being cunning and clever are some of the most important things, but bravery, Godric. Why bravery?”
“Because you have to be able to help others and not think only of yourself. If you think about it, Salazar, you would understand. A good person should be able to risk his own life to save the lives of his friends.”
“That’s a load of toads,” laughed Slytherin. “Godric, that’s heroism, only stupid people will risk themselves so needlessly. Playing the hero is such a mindless task, any Muggle could be a hero, they don’t need magic to do that. If the person was smart they would realize that everyone else doesn’t matter, and they should just move along.”
“You’re joking right-”
“Godric, please.” It was Ravenclaw who interrupted Godric. “You shouldn’t start a fight with him.”
“And Helga,” continued Slytherin. “How can you say that those inferior Muggle-borns and impure wizards should go to a school as noble as ours? The idea is most revolting. I can’t believe a woman of your status would express such a disturbing idea.”
Hufflepuff looked at the ground, hurt.
“You can’t say that,” stated Ravenclaw.
“I just did,” snarled Slytherin.
“You’re saying that only four or five people can be in a year, then,” snapped Godric.
“If that is how it is, then so be,” concluded Slytherin, shrugging his shoulders. “It doesn’t bother me how many students we have in here, so long as they are the right sort of people.”
“So you are saying I cannot go,” I interjected standing up.
Everyone besides Slytherin looked at me. Still looking at Godric, Slytherin snarled. “Children should be seen and not heard, Aurelia. Now be silent, I am trying to converse with your uncle-”
“Would I be allowed to go?” I knew that I would be in trouble later. Not only had I interrupted an elder, I had interrupted a man and wizard, such a thing a girl was not allowed to do.
He cocked his head and looked at me with the most intense stare that I have ever seen. I could guess anything from his gaze, it seemed to me that there was loathing mixed in the complete despising of the fact that my father was a Muggle.
When Slytherin didn’t answer me, Godric sighed. “Aurelia, don’t be ridiculous. He is only expressing an idea, nothing is final yet.”
“Why don’t you just do this,” I shouted. If I was already in trouble, why not go from the frying pan and into the fire, either way I would be burned, so it didn’t matter much to me any road. “Hogwarts is a big castle with many chambers, enough for everyone. How about each of you having four separate chambers for your own students of your selection. That way everyone can have an equal chance and you can stop worrying about unworthy people in the school, since you would each teach the students only you wanted to have.”
When I was done rambling, the room was more silent than the river in which my mother’s remains where thrown. It was more silent than my father was at the end of the night, even when I shouted at him to say something.
“Sit down, girl,” sneered Slytherin.
“No, let the girl speak,” said Ravenclaw, looking at me with her deep wise eyes. Under her scrutiny I felt naked, as if she could see right through me and read my soul. “She has the right idea.”
“I think that’s the answer,” declared Godric. “Why didn’t I or Rowena figure that out. That’s the-”
“She’s only expressing an idea, nothing is final yet,” sneered Slytherin. He stood up. “She’s just a girl.” He strode over to me, and looked down at me. “She’s not even old enough to be married. She’s worthless.”
I glared up at him. He had no right to say that about me. “I-”
“Why are you listening to her?” He turned back to the rest of them. “Why should the future of our school be determined by an underdeveloped mind, poisoned by the Muggle blood her father passed on to her? Only an idiot would follow her.”
“Children are the future,” said Hufflepuff, knowingly.
“What do you know-”
“Sit down, Salazar,” commanded Godric.
“Listen to me,” snarled Slytherin.
“I told you to SIT DOWN, SALAZAR,” shouted Godric.
The whole room jumped. Except for Slytherin, who just stood, frowning. “I don’t need your hogwash,” snapped Slytherin.
“Come on, Salazar, don’t be a-”
Striding out the door, Slytherin shouted over his shoulder, “This isn’t going to be the end of the matter, Godric. There is always tomorrow!”
There was a different kind of silence in the hall this time. It felt to me as if this had happened before, and this was not unexpected. I could tell that they wanted to stop it, but they were resigned, since they could do nothing about it.
“There is no point in going on if he isn’t here,” said Hufflepuff, breaking the silence.
“He’ll never be here,” murmured Ravenclaw. “He’s always in his mind.”
It looked as if Hufflepuff would laugh, but the look on Godric’s face was the exact opposite. He seemed drawn and tormented. He and Ravenclaw both knew that this was a grave matter, that could draw them apart.
“Helga is right,” mused Godric. “There is no point.”
I started to leave with Godric, but Ravenclaw called me back.
“Would you like to take a walk in the gardens with me?” she suggested.
Outside, in the sunlight, I could see that it wasn’t just silver that streaked her hair, but shades of bronze and tinges of red. Years seemed to lift from her face as the breeze blew by.
She must have been very beautiful once, I thought looking at her.
Her walk matched mine, and her sapphire blue dress matched her eyes. “You’re quite wise, you know,” she said suddenly, taking me by surprise.
“What?” I stammered, taken back.
“You’re wise,” she repeated. “Not like other people.”
“Oh really, I am not,” I denied, blushing deeply. I couldn’t believe that I was being called wise by what had to be the most brilliant person alive.
“No really, you are,” insisted Ravenclaw. “The idea about the chambers just may help. I’ve been thinking it over since you suggested it, and I really do like the idea of it. Chambers should help, and come time, Salazar will realize this too, he can be quite stubborn, as I am sure you noticed. He thinks only of his own experiences, and does not change much. But I am sure he will see reason. Perhaps we should call them something else, houses, perhaps. However, other times, I do worry that he will not want to stay with us much longer. He has this way of thinking that sometimes just scares me.”
I had never heard of someone like her being scared, so I waited silently.
“I just worry that he might bring his own destruction,” continued Ravenclaw. “Or that of others. You understand, I am sure.”
“I don’t quite,” I admitted.
“When you are older, maybe you will,” sighed Ravenclaw, looking up at the sky. “I worry about Godric, and Helga too. I wonder if they will be all right.” She looked down at me. “But I can’t expect you to comprehend that. I am old, my children are older than you, one of them has a son at least four years younger than you. Helga has children. And Godric, well, he does have a wife. Salazar doesn’t, he’s younger than us and doesn’t understand how we cannot grasp his points. He lacks our wisdom. Well, one day he will.” She shook her head. “I am sorry, Aurelia. I should be going.”
I did not want to go back into the castle. The grounds were so pretty and inviting. I walked over to the garden where I had first met Helga. Roses grew next to sage and hazel. I touched a rose, and leaned in to smell it. Instantly, I recoiled.
A snake was there right next to the rose bush, staring with dark eyes up at me. It flicked out its tongue and hissed deeply. Tightening its black body, it seemed to be defending itself from me. Petrified, I couldn’t move.
I heard a hissing from behind me, and jumped. Was I surrounded by snakes? I turned around and saw that it was not a snake behind me, but Salazar Slytherin, looking down at the snake.
The snake swayed and looked up at Slytherin. More hissing. It was the most peculiar experience, it seemed as if he was having a conversation with a snake. The very thought!
Slytherin bent down next to me, but seemed to ignore me as he continued on making the loud hissing noises. The snake crawled up his arm.
“You needn’t have been afraid, Aurelia,” said Slytherin, still not looking at me and focusing on the snake. “He’s just a harmless garter snake. I doubt he will even bite you. Want to touch him?”
“No thank you,” I muttered quickly. “I don’t like them.”
“Snakes are my friends.” He kissed the head of this one, as if mocking me. “Sometimes they are the only ones here that understand me.”
“How unfortunate,” I murmured. I didn’t want to look at the snake, so I focused on his face.
“They are more afraid of you then you are of them,” explained Slytherin.
“Where you talking to him?” I asked, hoping I had been imagining that.
“I do speak the same language. it is a rare gift, possessed by few, and feared by those who don’t,” stated Slytherin. “Are you afraid of me?”
“I’m more afraid of the snake,” I admitted.
“You needn’t be,” he whispered more to himself than to me, or perhaps to the snake, still intwined in his fingers. “Pity you aren’t a pureblood witch otherwise you would be very successful in life.”
His comment stirred my questions that his profound statement had caused in my mind when he had said it in the meeting. “Do you really not want half-bloods like me in Hogwarts.”
“Preferably no,” said Slytherin. “But not all of your kind are bad, it’s the Muggle-borns that we can’t allow. They muck up our name, how dare they consider themselves wizards when they spring up from the dirt and swamps, they are not worthy of our magic, nor carrying our blood. Anyone who carries the blood of a Muggle-born is also worthless. Your father’s Muggle blood doesn’t muck up your blood as much as a Muggle-born would. They are not like us. They do not belong. Their minds are blocked by the mud in their blood. They are all ‘Mudbloods.’”
I frowned. I did not like the sound of that name that I had never heard before. It seemed vulgar and almost like the poison of a snake. Only it was the hatred behind the very word that poisoned it and painted it a dark colour.
“I don’t like that word,” I whispered.
“You don’t have to,” he laughed. He realised the snake. “None of them have to like anything that I say. One day I will have my way,” he vowed. “One day I will have my way, Aurelia. I swear it by the pure and noble blood in my veins. One day all the Mudbloods will be purged from the school, and then it will be pure.”
I felt sick and uneasy as I watched his back retreat and reenter the castle.
Later on that night, i crept around the school, the words of Slytherin still haunting my mind. I felt disturbed and my mind could not rest. I had to pace the halls until my heart stopped racing and things made sense.
“I told you Godric,” it was the voice of Slytherin, “I don’t like it. I hate the fact that you can’t agree with me anymore.”
There was a crack of light coming from a room, I pressed my eye to the open space. I could see that this had to have been Slytherin’s room’s. Rather dimly lit, there were tomes and cages of animals on the shelves. Godric was across the room from Slytherin, who was on his bed.
“We used to be friends, Salazar,” said Godric, weakly. “Why must your desires and beliefs come in the way of it.”
“You are letting yours come in the way of our friendship,” snarled Slytherin. “It’s not me, it’s all your doing. You are so full of self righteousness, you don’t let your eyes see beyond your nose.”
“You must be talking about yourself,” snapped Godric. “You only care about yourself.”
I could see a light in Slytherin’s eyes I had never seen before. He seemed livid, but full of control, the only thing that showed was the flicker in his eyes.
“Leave me, Godric,” commanded Slytherin.
“Salazar-”
He said something in the language of snakes, and Godric recoiled. Striding to the door, I realized he would see me, and hastened to try to make myself as invisible as possible. Luckily, he strode past me, going the other direction.
“I know you’re there, Aurelia,” said Slytherin, slyly. “Come in here, I have something I want to show you.”
Nervously, I walked inside the room, and saw him at his desk, leaning over a cage. I peered over his shoulder and looked at it.
A toad was sitting on an ordinary chicken egg, but it seemed as if it was hatching it.
“A toad,” I said. “And an egg.”
“It’s not the frog, nor the egg itself. It’s what is inside the egg,” stated Salazar. “I have been trying to find a basilisk, and I am sure that very soon, this one will hatch. Do you know what it does?”
I shook my head.
“Neither do I.” I could tell he was lying. “How about this being our little secret? Godric doesn’t have to know. How about it?”
I nodded my head, not understanding quite what I was agreeing to. But I never told anyone what was in the egg, for my fear of Slytherin held my tongue.