"You're mad! Do you understand just what you're giving up to chase this- this dream of yours?"
"Oh, I know very well. This is more than a dream after all, this is my future. Our future, if you would have it my way. This is how our world needs to be; No one will stop me."
"And this is the only way you can do it? You and I both know this is the wrong path to take! Balance will not allow it!"
"Do not tell me what will and will not be allowed! I choose my own path, and I'd like to see someone try to stop me. I am powerful; more powerful than any wizard before me. It is much too late for you to back out, dear."
"I was never with this in the beginning! I regret making the decision to ignore what you've done; what you're doing! I was wrong before, but this can be righted now! If only you'll let me...if only you'll come away with me and leave this all behind you. Nothing good will come of it."
The young man let out a mirthless chuckle.
"Righted? My dear, everything is just the way I wish it to be! I am power. My very name strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies! You will not take that away from me. I've known for many a years that love makes one weak; I'm almost ashamed to think that I let our little...thing get this far. Had I known this is where it would lead us, I would have disposed of you long ago."
"Disposed of me!? Where would you be without me? Without that diary of yours? Without that knowledge you possess in no small part thanks to me!"
"Do you not hear my words, girl? I survived before you, and I will survive long after you are gone. You may have assisted me in my goals, but forget not that I am more than capable of reaching my own personal goals on my own. The rest of you are merely pawns, for my disposal."
The girl's anger flared once more.
"You have become a sick and twisted! One whose goals do not deserve to be met! You will tear families apart limb from limb; you will rule with a heavy hand of fear, disposing of those who oppose or fail you as you have already begun to do. Don't think I don't know. I've known ever since the very first victim what you've become capable of; I was just too blinded by my own emotions to see the destructive malevolence in your eyes. And yet I can still imagine a happiness with you. If only you'd give this ridiculous dream up, and come with me…"
"What part of never do you not understand! I will die before I willingly give up what I've worked so hard for. Our kind and our kind alone deserve this planet! All others should be exterminated, like the vermin they are. If you can no stand beside me in that, then it is much too late for you. You know much too much, dear. If this is your final answer, I'm afraid this is goodbye. Our time together was...pleasurable."
The girl's eyes grew wide as the reality of his words sunk in in mere seconds. She raised her wand in a feeble attempt for protection, but she knew not a spell for protection against one so sinister and final.
As the bright green light connected with her body, her muscles seized up and her body fell back, nearly lifeless. In her final moments, she felt something inside her break. Surely, with a betrayal as strong as such this was normal…
And then there was nothing.
September first marked the coming of the new school year at Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Returning students poured through the door of the Great Hall ahead of the first years, who as per tradition arrive by boat. This year marked Harry Potter's fourth year of schooling, and the revival of an age old tradition of the schools.
The students were restless waiting for the first years to arrive and be sorted; the rain left almost all of the students wet and cold, eager to get warm food into their bellies.
The ceiling of the Great Hall reflected the weather quite well on this first evening; dark clouds swirling above the heads of students, almost as if they themselves were threatening to let out a torrential downpour as was occurring outside the castle walls.
The first years were ushered into the Great Hall in a timely manner, after McGonagall's small speech that she gave to all the upcoming first years, year after year.
Soon enough each of the students was sorted, from Ackerly, Stewart to Whitby, Kevin, and Dumbledore signalled the beginning of the feast thereafter.
The evening continued on as every first day did at Hogwarts, little going astray this year from the last. Soon the food was cleared from the tables, and Dumbledore made his start of term speech, reminding students of rules and introducing new faculty and what not. Same old, same old.
And yet, everyone seemed to be on edge; anxious, almost. As if they were just waiting for something to happen.
Even Dumbledore could feel it. There was a palpable energy hanging in the air, one that forewarned an occurrence that the headmaster had not yet had the pleasure of witnessing; in fact, had it not been for the statues that were carved into the outcroppings of the alcoves that lined the Great Hall, he might have written off and forgotten about many years ago.
Knowledge of The Souls was passed down from headmaster to headmaster, not necessarily secret information but sensitive all the same. Professor Dumbledore knew that each statue located in the Hall was in likeness of a prominent student that had once attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Past tense being a vital component of that description. Each of the students depicted by artists of old had perished in one way or another while in attendance of the school.
But that was not all. Each student was one of-if not the-most promising witch or wizard of their age. It was this inner quality that set them apart from all others, what gave them the right to their memorials-more or less. There was more to the story, of course, but it had been years since Dumbledore had read up on the subject. He made a little note to himself to do just that in the coming evenings.
Some time passed before the students relaxed, realizing that nothing was going to happen. They happily continued to dig into their food, but none more than one particular red-headed Gryffindor known well throughout the school for both his family and the boy he called his best friend.
The evening was peaceful, up until the conclusion of the feast. Those very statues that had exuded a magical energy long gone from this world pulsed once more; a vague memory resurfaced, and the signature twinkle in his eye seemed to dim a bit, to any who might have been glancing at the professor just then.
But he did not make a sound, and waited for the students and faculty to retire for the night.
The doors to the Great Hall closed as the last of the faculty exited, sealing off the room from the rest of the castle.
And so, the headmaster waited. It occurred to him that his research would have to be more expedient than he had originally intended; It seemed that those documents would become important in the coming days.
Before long the pulses became consistent, up until the point where there was no discerning one from another. The headmaster could pinpoint the resonating power from four of the student statues that lined the walls; one that watched over the Hufflepuff table, another for Gryffindor, and two from Ravenclaw.
Soon the pulses ceased to exist apart from each other, and each statue exuded a force that hummed unbroken.
The process was almost complete.
The stone began to crack, the unique sound occurring once for each form, a depression appearing on a various part of each. Cracks spider webbed out from these points, crossing over each other and causing bits of the stonework to come loose and fall.
The first shower of stone dust prompted the headmaster to rise from his seat and advance towards the nearest of the figures, otherwise known as the Slytherin Guardian. Conjuring his patronus, the headmaster sent it through the doors of the Great Hall to gather McGonagall, Snape, and Madame Pomfrey because as the pieces of stone fell away, the body of a young girl was revealed within.
A quick levitation charm was performed on each of the girl so as to not allow harm to come to their corporeal forms as they emerged from their stone encasings, as they seemed unconscious.
Shortly after the doors to the Great Hall were opened once more, this time revealing the presence of the three he sent for.
"It seems we have visitors," Dumbledore started, moving towards the center aisle of the room, "of the most interesting kind. I will need to refresh my memory on their history, as I'm afraid this situation has not arisen in my time here. Poppy, if you could watch over the girls for the time being, I need to get some things sorted."
The mediwitch nodded, still shocked into silence.
With a flick of Dumbledore's wand, the girls' bodies followed Pomfrey out the door.
The Headmaster turned towards his two most trusted colleagues. "The reason I also had the two of you called also pertains to our newest additions. If you would follow me…" and he moved towards the exit, presumably to go to his office where matters could be more private.
