Chapter 1:
Rowena sat beneath a large, ancient tree that provided much needed shade on the hot summer day.
She turned the page of an excellent book she had begun reading, Merry Tidings of Marvoulous Merpeople. Mermaids had always intrigued her so, and she longed to meet one. The very idea of being able to breath underwater was exhilarating to the young Ravenclaw girl.
Once she had finished the page, she plucked a leaf from the low-slung branches of the tree above and placed it carefully between the pages, marking her spot.
Rowena stood up and tucked her book neatly into a navy blue satchel, which she kept with her at all times. It was nearing midday, and she must head home to help mother in the house, and father would surely be home any day now from his explorations, brimming with stories and knowledge of the far world . . .
Rowena Ravenclaw lived for knowledge. She was inquisitive and wise for one so young, and yearned for more. She wished to know every secret of the universe, and swore to seek it out someday, just as he father had vowed. She would travel the world with him, learn everything about every nook and cranny of the earth . . . or perhaps stay here in England and learn all there could possibly be to learn about it. One way or another, Rowena Ravenclaw would know everything about something at one point in her life.
The sun beat down on her as she walked through the meadow, which, despite the sweltering weather and lack of rainwater for weeks, was teeming with wildflowers.
"The struggle for existence, for it is all they have . . ." Rowena whispered to herself, plucking one of the flowers and placing it behind her ear. She then brushed her long black hair out of her face and started off towards home once again. Perhaps her father would be home today.
It was high noon when Rowena heard a terrible sound. A ghastly, shrieking wail coming from a creature that Rowena herself was rather familiar with: a Hippogriff.
She turned around and ran back towards the sound, spotting the creature flare its great wings into the air and stomp in blind fury. Someone was angering it.
Rowena hurried forward, finally seeing a young man about her own age. He was considerably taller than her, and had brown hair and fierce brown eyes that were oblivious to Rowena as he relentlessly hurled rocks at the poor hippogriff.
"Stop it!" Rowena cried, grabbing the boy's arm so to stop him throwing the stone he had grabbed. "You're hurting him!"
"Oi, get off! That blasted chicken injured me!" He shook Rowena off and resumed throwing rocks at the hippogriff, who had not ceased its wails in the least bit.
Rowena thought for a moment, slightly frightened, then ran in front of the young man, curtsying to the best of her abilities.
"I don't need you to curtsy at me, girl -"
"It isn't for you!" Rowena snapped, looking nervously up at the hippogriff without moving.
The hippogriff shrieked a few more times, then seemed to calm down and walk closer to Rowena.
She froze completely, holding her breath, not moving a muscle, until the hippogriff cawed and bowed back. Rownea stood up proudly and walked towards him, looking him over to see if any of the stones had hurt him.
The young man attempted to walk near her. She smirked, knowing what was coming, and was not the least bit surprised when the hippogriff reared up again, causing the boy to fall backwards and crawl away.
After she finished checking the hippogriff over the best that she could, she walked over to the boy and held out her hand; he was still on the ground. He took it, then pulled himself up and brushed himself off.
"Erm, I suppose . . . well, thank you. My name's Godric Gryffindor," He said, offering his hand out to her.
She hesitated, then shook his hand and stated, "Rowena Ravenclaw."
"Sorry about your hippogriff . . ."
Rownea chuckled. "He isn't mine, I just hate to see any animal treated that way." She glanced back to the hippogriff. "Did you insult him?"
"Yeah, he gobbled up the ferret I killed and took off. I called him a stealing coward."
"Never insult a hippogriff, Godric Gryffindor. It could be the last thing you ever do." Rowena's eyes fell to Godric's right hand, which he had held to his chest the entire time. A bit of blood trickled from it, and Rowena frowned.
"Why don't you come with me to my house?" She offered. "My mum could fix that right up for you."
Chapter 2:
Rowena walked peacefully ahead of Godric, hands clasped behind her back. Her bag bounced against her side every time she took another step, and Godric heard the chink of glass hitting glass each time.
Eventually Rowena stopped, pulling an ink bottle out of her satchel and wrapping it with her cloak that she had worn for the chilly morning journey to her previously secluded tree. Once she had set off walking again, the chink was no more.
After ten straight minutes of walking, Godric sighed angrily, wondering where, exactly, this girl's house was. Surely his father was looking for him by now.
He opened his mouth to speak, then stopped as a house - if you could call it that - appeared.
The house appeared to be a cluster of round cans, all thrown haphazardly into a form that slightly resembled a house. The house was not tall, but what it lacked in height, it made up for in width. The house sprawled across the edge of the meadow, an eerie forest guarding the backside of the interesting house, and, sitting on the tip of the tallest point of the house, was a raven.
"Come on, it is only a little further," Rowena said. She hadn't stopped walking, and Godric barely heard her. Her voice finally penetrated his awe at such an odd house, and he hurried after her.
Rowena opened one of the three doors that Godric could see on the front of the house and walked in.
"Goodness me, will you look at that!" Rowena breathed, upon looking into the small, cozy room. It seemed normal after the outside view, with soft blue furniture, smooth wooden floors, and elegant bookshelves lining every wall in the room, almost overflowing with books. Some looked ancient, some brand new, and some were just plane odd. There was a book on a shelf above a blue chair who's spine was rapidly changing colors.
Rownea moved slowly through the room, looking simply amazed with her own house.
"You do live here, do you not?" Godric questioned, stopping at a shelf that contained ancient looking books labeled: The Studies of Physik & Darke Alchemy, The Darkest Magik Upon Thy Tounge, and The Black Curse of Zalanthas.
"Why, yes, but I have never witnessed my home being so -"
"Rowena?" A voice called from somwhere in the house, "Is that you?"
Rowena turned from the arched doorway that she had been about to pas through and headed through another, into a room with dozens of bronze scultures and metalworkings, then into a room that was rather ornate, decorated with navy, silver and gold, and finally into a brightly-lit kitchen, complete with a large window that let an abundence of light in, a glossy wooden table, and a tall woman that highly resembled Rowena holding a pan in one hand and a spoon in the other.
Rowena set her satchel on the table and grinned. "Yes mum, it me. I've brought a friend, too, I don't hope you don't mind."
"Not the least bit, dear. What's the young fellow's name?"
"Godric Gryffindor, m'am," Godric said, holding out his hand once more.
"Anya Ravenclaw. Sorry, son, but I am unable to take that at the time," Anya said, pointing her spoon towards Godric's hand. She stopped shaking it when she spotted his wounded arm. "Oh, my! What have you done to that arm, boy?"
"I insulted a hippogriff, m'am."
"Well that was right dim witted of you, was it not? I shall have to bandage that one." Anya lay the pan on the table and hurried to another room.
Godric sniffed. "Is something burning?"
Rowena jumped up from the chair she had been sitting on and grabbed the pan off of the table. A large, round scorch mark was left on the table where the pan had previously been.
"Ow!" Rowena yelped, dropping the hot pan and shaking her hand. The pan hit the floor and rolled, causing the steaming hot contents to spill across the room. The smell of the stew rapidly filled the room.
"Oh, no," Rowena muttered, digging through her satchel and pulling out a wand. She pointed it to the stew mess, waved it, and said briskly "Scourgify." The puddle of stew vanished on the spot, as if it had never existed.
Godric reached for the pan, which lay beneath his feet, but Rowena stopped him. "It could still be hot," she warned.
"So? A little burn won't hurt any more than my arm, will it?"
"I suppose not, but the burn will sting longer," she protested, before pointing her wand to it and saying "Locomotor Pan." The pan rose into the air and Rowena directed it to the stove, setting it down gently as her mother reentered the room.
"You can cast Locomotor?" Godric asked, amazed.
"Of course she can! She's bloody brilliant, she is," Anya exclaimed, cleaning the wound with her wand and lathering a salve onto it. As she carefully pressed a smaller guaze onto it, she asked, "Rowena, could you - ?"
"Of course, mum!" Rowena waved her wand and conjured a bandage from thin air, blushing a little as Godric's mouth dropped open.
"I can't conjure anything," He muttered glumly, watching Anya bandage his arm. "Why couldn't you just heal that with magic?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at Anya.
"Because I do not trust myself to, and Rowena has yet to learn about the art of healing wounds."
"Do you teach -" Godric started, then stopped as a voice boomed through the house.
"Anya? Rowena my raven, are you home?"
Rowena beamed. "Father!"
Chapter 3:
" - and can you guess what I discovered there?"
Rowena leaned forward in her chair, wide-eyed and giving her father every bit of her attention. The food on her plate had grown cold long ago, and her mother was quickly tidying up about Rowena, smiling at her daughter as the girl drank in everything her father said.
"The giants, father?" Rowena whispered.
"Yes! Now how did you know?" He boomed. Everything word that Rudolf Ravenclaw spoke seemed to boom. He was a tall man, with a large build and an even larger voice. He was fit and full of knowledge, and Godric soon discovered where Rowena had gotten her talent.
"I've just read a book about them. Would you like to see it? It is obvious that the author did next to no research, but it is quite interesting."
"Yes, I would. Now, how is it that he did no research, yet you were able to derive the answer from my stories?"
"You just have to look at the clues, father. You were in the mountains, and finding large campfire remaints everywhere, multitudes of sheep bones, giant caves, loud noises at night that never ceased . . . I am -"
There was a swift knock on the door, barely noticeable. Rudolf frowned for the first time that night.
"That might be my father," Godric said, ignoring the look on Rudolf's face, a cross between worry and hate. Rudolf aslo ignored Godric, gripping his wand tightly and walking to the door. Godric stood up quickly and followed him, just in case it was his father.
Rowena followed until she was at the edge of the first room with the soft blue furniture. She held her wand and peeked around, watching her father open the door with repressed anxiety.
The door opened to another boy around Rowena's age, with thin black hair and a slight build. His pale skin was flushed from running, and his dark eyes were wide and fearful. He stepped back when he realized that both Rudolf and Godric were pointing thier wands at him.
Godric quickly lowered his. "Salazar?"
"Godric? What are you doing here?" Salazar's eyes narrowed, and he stepped inside at Rudolf's invitation. He glanced around the room, and into the other two that were visible from it. "This is . . . different."
Rowena stepped into the room. "Is everything alright, father?"
"We had better be leaving soon, Ravenclaw, sir. Night has fallen, and my parents will be worried," Godric announced, looking at Salazar.
"Yes, that would be the reason I am here," Salazar agreed, pulling his cloak tighter.
Rowena frowned, not able to piece something together. "But you just asked him what he is doing here. What are the odds that you would just stumble upon our home? We do not live anywhere near a village, and the nearest village is barely a village at all. I have been to this village many times and never has anybody mentioned a Salazar."
Salazar said nothing.
"You boys shall not go anywhere. The forest is dangerous at night, and nobody should be out there after dark."
"If I may, I'm not frightened of much. I'm sure we will be fine," Godric defended, standing up straighter and trying to look stronger. Rowena couldn't help but snort. Godric shot her a look. "What was that for?"
"I had something in my throat, sorry."
"Rowena?" Rudolf said, turning to her. His smile had once again returned to his face.
"Yes father?"
"Please prepare a room for these two boys. They shall not stay from this house under my watch."
Godric seemed to deflate at Rudolf's words and frowned at Salazar.
As Rowena lay a pillow on the second golden quilt-swathed bed, Salazar entered the room. he sat on the bed that had already been prepared and stared menacingly at her. She ignored him for a while, then turned angrily and looked at him. "What?" She snapped, placing her hands on her hips.
Salazar looked at her a moment more, then said quietly, "Why did you have to embarrass me like that in front of Godric?"
"I . . . what?"
"I did go looking for him, so his father didn't murder him when he finally arrived, but I became lost in the forest. I though I heard someone behind me, and I turned and ran. I did stumble upon your house by accident, I just didn't want Godric to know."
Rowena sat on Godric's bed and raised an eyebrow. "Why not? Godric seems like a nice young man."
"Yeah, to you. You're 'cute'. Godric has to show his manners in front of the ladies, yes, but he is an arrogant little snotrag when he wants to be, even to his friends."
"Well, I am terribly sorry, Salazar . . ."
"Slytherin, Salazar Slytherin."
"Yes. Goodnight Salazar," Rownea stood up and walked to the door. "Help yourself to anything you want, except my books, that is. If I find them any of them missing, I shall embarrass you to no end tomorrow, agreed?"
Salazar chuckled in spite of himself. "Agreed."
Moments later, Godric walked in. "You look happy. What's your problem?"
"Nothing. Rowena has a good sense of humor, that's all."
Godric couldn't fall asleep that night.
He laid there and stared at the starry ceiling above for twenty minutes before he realized what had been keeping him.
The way Rudolf Ravenclaw had acted with a simple knock to the door had puzzled and disturbed him. Was it possible that the brilliant man simply had a touch of paranoia? Or was the forest really as dangerous as Rudolf had warned?
Godric turned his head to Salazar. "Slytherin, you asleep?"
"I have a first name, you know," Salazar muttered glumly; he had obviously almost been asleep.
Ignoring Salazar's comment, Godric asked, "What do you think is so dangerous about that forest?"
Salazar said nothing.
"Salazar? Salazar? Look, I'm sorry I called you -"
"I hear something, shush!"
Godric stopped talking and listened. There were footsteps passing their door; light, footsteps that weren't meant to be heard.
"C'mon," Godric demanded, getting out of bed.
"I'd rather not. I don't think that Ravenclaw man would much appreciate our snooping around his house . . . Godric?" Salazar sighed. Godric had completely ignored him, as usual, and snuck out of the room anyway. Salazar pushed his bed sheets off and followed.
Rowena stood against the wall outside her parents' room, her braided hair pulled over her shoulder, and her night gown held tightly in her hand so it would not ruffle. She listened carefully to her parents' conversation, which was whispered and anxious.
" - he followed me everywhere, Anya, questioning me about my family, and where I reside. I would have brushed it off, Anya, but he asked about Rowena. I can't have that."
Rowena gasped, not because of what her father had said, but because someone had brushed her arm.
She jerked her head around to look right into Godric's grinning face.
"Did I scare you?" He mouthed, and Rowena frowned and turned away.
"Why did he ask about Rowena, Rudolf?"
"Apparently he had heard of her brilliance, but I simply don't see how. He even admitted to dabbling in the dark arts himself. He gave me a book, Dark Experiments of a Mad Warlock, and it sent chills down my spine, Anya. Tossed it into the river first chance I got, and warned him never to come near my family ever again."
"Did he ever tell you his name?" Anya whispered.
"He did actually. Armano Hufflepuff, I think he said."
Chapter 4:
Godric sneezed.
Rowean cringed, hearing someone exit the bed and walk towards the door. Godric and Salazar fled to their room, but Rowena couldn't; she simply had to ask her father about Armano Hufflepuff. It was in her nature. She stepped away from the wall and clasped her hands in front of her.
Her father stepped from the room, garbed in his nightclothes and glaring through the inky darkness, spotting his daughter.
"What are you doing eavesdropping, young lady?"
Rowena frowned at the sound of her father's ominously dissapointed voice. "I only wished to know why you -"
"Do you always have to be so damn curious, girl?"
Rowena bit her lip before answering, "Well, y-yes. You've always encouraged it before -"
"You should be in bed, Rowena!" He father snapped, once more interrupting his daughter mid-sentence. Godric and Salazar appeared at the end of the hallway, peaking around the corner.
"But, father, I only wished -"
Rudolf grabbed her wrist. "Do not meddle in things that you do not understand! You are to go your bedroom, and you are not to leave until I wake you in the morning, do you understand?"
Rowena had tears in her eyes now. Her father had never been so brutal with her. She could not even remember him yelling at her before.
"You are hurting my wrist," Rowena whimpered, as Anya shuffled out of the bedroom.
"Rudolf! What are you doing to our daughter?!"
He glanced around, then released Rowena and stalked back into his room, slamming the door shut once Anya had followed.
Rowena stood in the hallway for a moment more, then burst into tears, turned, and ran hysterically back to her room, pushing rudely past Salazar and Godric. Godric was almost knocked off of his feet, and when he regaind his footing, he sighed. "Blimey, mate, what's gotten into him?"
"We should go comfort her or something," Salazar muttered, folding his arms behind his head and staring at the ceiling with a glum expression. light sobs could occasionally be heard coming from the direction of Rowena's room.
"Yeah, you should. I'l never get to sleep otherwise."
Salazar rolled his eyes and sat up. "Are you that much of a git? You just watched a little girl get tormented by her father."
"She's only a year or so younger than us, if you haven't noticed."
"And your sister is only a year younger than us, but you would murder me if I somehow caused her to cry."
Silence.
"Manipulative, you are," Godric muttered, once again getting out of bed, Salazar following.
Godric strolled out of the door, ignoring the fact that Rudolf Ravenclaw might still be awake. Salazar, however, remained in the room, looking around the doorway before proceeding.
Salazar quietly followed Godric down the hall, and stood behind him as he opened the door.
That was Salazar Slytherin for you, always following Godric around as if he were a king or something.
Rowena's room was surprisingly bright for the lack of lights. Everything seemed to move with a slow, surreal motion, which surprised both Salazar and Godric, as most of the room was unseeable, thanks to the abnormal abundance of books that lay upon every flat surface in the room. There were even books stacked upon the window sill of a large, semicircle-shaped window on the east wall of the room.
As Salazar and Godric walked further into the room, the wavering light was explained. A dozen glowing orbs, each about four inches in circumference, floated leisurely about the room, casting the stacks and piles of books into mysterious shadows every few seconds.
Rowena sat on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chest, still sobbing lightly. She had looked up when Godric and Salazar walked in, and quickly wiped her tears.
Godric stepped aside to let Salazar through and looked at him expectantly, as if to say, Well?
Salazar opened his mouth to say something, although he wasn't quite sure what, exactly, it was going to be, and Rowena burst into tears again, saying hysterically, "He isn't like that, Salazar! N-never! I d-dunno what's happened to him. Maybe Arm-mano did do something t-to him . . ." Her words became nothing more than incoherent sobbing, and Godric looked behind him to see if Rudolf had somehow awoken.
"Maybe . . . maybe he was simply worried about you, and didn't want you to go after such a dangerous man," Godric suggested, earning a look of utter surprise form Salazar.
"What?" Godric snapped, "I try, don't I?"
Rowena giggled, then sniffed and frowned again. She stared at her toes for a while, then said, softly, "I still don't understand why he had to touch me like that." She rubbed her wrist nervously, peeking at the door. He's never grabbed me before. It frightened me."
The next morning, everyone sat in a subdued silence around the table while Anya served breakfast.
Godric raised an eyebrow and squinted his eyes at Rudolf, who scowled. Salazar had to struggle not to laugh, and Rowena just glanced worridely at her father and slowly forced her food down.
"Thank you for the hospitality and all, Madam Ravenclaw," Godric said, waiting by the door. "I might actually come back one day!"
Rowena tried to smile, but couldn't. She did not wish to see Salazar and Godric leave so soon. She checked behind her; her father was walking aimlessy about the kitchen, doing random things so as to keep himself occupied.
"Mother?" Rowena said quietly, clutching her full satchel to her chest.
"Yes, Rowena," Anya replied, as Godric and Salazar went on their way, and she closed the door behind them.
"May I please go with Godric to his home, if only to see where he lives? Please?"
Anya sighed, placing her hands on her hips and glancing at Rudolf. "I suppose, but come back if you find yourself becoming lost, dear."
Rowena nodded and ran out the door, calling to Godric and Salazar, "Wait for me!"
Chapter 5:
"Oh, yes, and there is my great uncle Dimitri. He was into ancient runes and such. He wrote three books on the subject, and sort of field-guide for Astronomy. I have them all. And my cousin Agatha, she was obsessed with giants." Rowena stopped, thinking. "Took a rather hard knock on the head, though. Hasn't been right since . . ."
"How many people, exactly, have written books in your family?" Godric rolled his eyes as Rowena stopped again, contemplating. "Am i right in assuming that entirely too many people -"
"Can we just get on with it, please? It's nearly evening, look at the sun! It wouldn't do us well to be stuck out here all night, would it?"
"Scared of the dark, Slytherin?" Godric scoffed, smirking. "Well, I'm not scared of anything. I'll just as soon frighten it away as soon as I'll eat my evening meal when we reach home."
"Ah, yes, just like you frightened away that hippogriff?" Rowena snapped, cocking an eyebrow skeptically, "Honestly."
"Thank you!" Salazar exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.
Godric glared straight ahead. He didn't seem to hear anything that Salazar said until they neared the forest that housed Godric's home. Godric pointed to it, turning to Rowena. "My home isn't too far in. We should be there soon."
"I-I dunno . . . I should start home . . ." Rowena said, glancing reluctantly at the sky, which was deepening to a deep purple hue at an alarming pace.
"Oh, it's okay. There isn't anything dangerous about -"
"What was that?"
Godric rolled his eyes. "What are you scared of now, Slytherin?"
"I heard something, shut up."
'What're you hearing things now?"
Godric turned as Rowena dug her wand out of her satchel and held it high, whispering "Lumos," and walking forward slowly as her wandtip glowed, illuminating the growing darknes.
"Don't tell me you hear it, too -" Godric stopped, pulling his own wand out for the first time.
"Are you hearing things, Gryffindor?" Salazar spat, glancing at Godric, who scowled.
"Will you two stop bickering?" Rowena cried, gripping her wand tighter as a figure burst from the forest, stopping abruptly as they caught sight of the three figures, all with their wands aimed for her.
"Why, it's just a little girl . . ." Salazar muttered, stowing his wand in the pockets of his robes.
Rowena lowered her wand, and slowly walked up to the girl.
"Oh, my!" Rowena rushed forward, taking a handkerchief from her satchel and wiping the girl's tear and dirt-streaked face.
The girl, who was slightly shorter than Rowena, was pale, fair-haired, and blue-eyed. Her yellow robes were filthy and torn; she had been running through the forest for quite some time. She was quivering, and tensed as Rowena gently rubbed her face clean.
"Whatever are you running from?" Rowena asked, holding her lit wand higher.
"M-my father," she studdered, glancing at Salazar and Godric, who was staring not at her, but the forest that she had just emerged from.