An uneasy quiet had settled over the Founders' Hogwarts. The children of the four founders all sat in a circle around a world viewer, upset and alarmed by what they saw.
"Were you expecting this?"
"No, none of us were. Unless mother was, but she would have said something to us."
"Was Anne expecting this?"
"No. I don't think she was."
"But what does this mean?"
The question hung in the air, asked by Paul, but thought by all. They were so deep in thought that they didn't hear their parents come into the room.
"And what has got all of you so pensive?" Rowena asked, looking around at the faces of the group that was usually more active when grouped together.
"There's a new branching, a new world," Margaret supplied to her mother.
"That is unsurprising. I cannot keep track of them all. Is this one so different that it has shocked you?"
"Yes," The groups said all at once.
"W-what?" Helga stuttered a bit at the abrupt response.
Brenna spoke up, "You know that there is the… control world. The world with no Gertrude Granger, the world where we did not interfere at all. And then there are various worlds that do not have Gertrude Granger but we did poke and prod here and there. We also left a few other controls alone, to see if the results would be the same in each situation if we did not interfere. There was one world that paralleled the true control so closely it was worrying us, and so we began to watch it. But now, out of the blue, there is Gertrude. And none of us did anything to bring this about. We can't figure out what it means."
"Perhaps," Sophia suggested, "From all of our interfering, Danger has become intrinsic for a world with Harry Potter in it to exist? We've made her so important in so many worlds, that the other worlds are realizing the necessity of her influence?"
Godric spoke up at last, "Perhaps this is one of the instances where we need someone to go down and become actively involved within the world?" He automatically turned towards Alex, the one who had ventured forth into the worlds before.
"I'll go," Adam spoke up suddenly, before anyone else could say anything.
"I wanted to," Paul said, pouting slightly.
"It's my turn to go!" Maura snapped.
"It'd nice to be with other people again," Brenna said, Sophia nodding beside her.
"It's no fair that Alex is always the one to go," Margaret concluded.
Godric let the squabble go on for a few moments, hearing a few mutterings about throwing Paul into the lake if he didn't shut up, and Alex slowly slinked away from the group.
"We'll draw straws," Godric said.
Paul stared at him for a moment, "All the powers of the universe at hand, and you want to draw straws?"
"Well I could have you all play ninja, pirate, cowboy amongst yourselves until you came to a decision if you prefer," Godric suggested.
Adam rolled his eyes, "We'll draw straws."
Godric turned to the Ravenclaw sisters, "Margaret, I'm afraid that you cannot be a part of this. Without magical powers you'd be a liability. And Sophia, we need you up here to send visions to those who are receptive." Both sisters nodded and sat back down, saddened, but understanding.
Paul and Maura Gryffindor, Adam Hufflepuff, and Brenna Hufflepuff gathered around as Godric formed straws out of this tubes of fire. Holding them loosely in his hand, they all grabbed one and pulled at once.
It was obvious that Maura's straw was the shortest, and the others sat down resignedly.
"That works out well," Godric said with a small smile, "I know exactly what you can do."