note: Hello, this chapter was originally four chapters, so it may seem a bit choppy at parts. Hope you enjoy my fanfic!
A woman wearing a dark navy floor length dress stepped with her high heeled feet quickly and deliberately across an expensively tiled floor.
The mosaic tiles were also swirling around the bits of reflective glass imbedded the walls. Some may think that it was fetching decoration, but the woman knew better, it was a double glass, designed to watch an enemy, without said enemy being any the wiser.
However, Rowena Ravenclaw had no enemies in her own home- at least not at the moment.
She exited the lavishly decorated room for one much simpler and certainly not lavish by any standard. Instead of beautiful tiles, the floor consisted of some sort of common wood, and was splintery, old, and in need of major repair. The mirrors were in this room as well, although these mirrors were rusted and ancient.
Rowena sat at the flimsy desk in the corner and carefully opened a volume and scanned the page. Once finished with analyzing the contents of the page, she began a letter to three of her acquaintances.
Dear Salazar, Helena, and Godric,
I was reading volume XI of the pius populous dux ducis and I happened upon some information concerning wizarding education, there has been a prophesy; One that we would be fools to ignore. At any rate, destroy this as soon as it reaches you. I cannot disclose any more at the moment.
Sincerely,
R . Ravenclaw
...
In hard times of sickness and poverty, four friends bound by secrets, and sheltered in gifts (the gifts of magic) shall create a house in which the tenants are wonder and learning. The one to discover the secret shall be the scholar, and the scholar will bind them all through times of trouble and prosperity. Despite their own unique gifts and talents, the scholar is divine, and knowledge is divine. Yet the scholar will be overshadowed in time by the brave and courageous one, and the brave one shall be remembered always as the founder, the core. The inevitable evil shall be found in the secrets of the cunning and the secrets will bind them all when the scholar fails to do so; when the brave one turns to stubbornness and all seems lost. The loyal one shall be the friend, the one whom students go to when sick, injured, fatigued or lonely. The four shall create a house for learning, and the students shall study magic.
Rowena, Salazar, Godric, Helena, and Helena's sister, Helga, sat in the study of Salazar's manor.
The manor was fine- even exquisite to the untrained eye, however, as pleasing as the décor was, it did not hide the dank humid smell that came from being in a small room with few windows in the middle of the hot season.
Helga really had no place being here, as she was sixteen to the others twenty two in age, but she always enjoyed being around people, even people that were much too many years her senior to value her as an individual.
"…So, the expense, Rowena?" Salazar asked in his blunt manner, even though he was rich- like the rest of them- he still could never resist a bargain, and he hated to make withdrawals from his vault. "There is no sense beating around the bush. We will all find out in due time."
Rowena had the good sense to look uncomfortable as she answered. "Approximately nine hundred thousand gold pieces, but it may be more to hire workers."
"Are we supposed to pay for this?" Salazar said. "Or are you going to step forwards with your purse as always, a charity for all of us peasants?" he spit out the last word as if it was fire.
"If it is charity," Rowena replied frostily. "Then prove that you need my pity, there was no sense for it before this. Besides, we are all financially secure enough to split that amount. So stop picking arguments where there are none." Godric, Helena, and Salazar relaxed and smiled, they knew the fight was over, they knew that Rowena would never give up, so Salazar would know he might as well take a partial victory.
"Back to expense," Helena inserted cheerlessly. "Is there any way to reduce that amount? I don't want to spend more than necessary."
Rowena responded in a doubtful tone.
"Not unless I can get at some documents that are in my library, but it might take days if I am working by myself."
Helena thought for a moment and then smiled. "Helga can help you, cant you Helga?"
Helga smiled softly at her sister and said, "Yes, of course, I would be happy to help." and quietly left the room while secretly seething on the inside.
Once away from the room, Helga's petite form shook with anger and her pretty face was distorted. She was sick and tired of having her sister overshadow her. It was time to create her own life, one where Helena did not exist.
...
Helga, Helena's sister, walked across the dirty tavern, earning a few stares on her back.
She was wearing a black cloak and had the hood drawn up, completely covering her fair hair. She murmured salus tursus under her breath, the spell for health and cleanliness.
Even though her eyes narrowed at the sight of some of the men that were lying passed out in the room, she sat down in front of one of the more civilized looking men in the corner, and said quietly "So, I hear you're the person to go to if you want someone to… disappear?"
The man eyed her up and down and chuckled softly and said "I don't think you're the type to hold a grudge that big. Stop playing at being bad and go home to your mama and papa."
"Well, if that's how it's going to be…" Helga thought "I'll just have to step it up a notch"
"Actually I don't have to go home to anyone, except my husband of course, and now, I don't even think I want to go home to him…"
The man looked flustered, he nodded. Helga smiled and kept talking "How about we make it four hundred gold pieces in advance, and six hundred later on? All I need you to do it kill one girl- she looks like me but older, around twenty. She goes by Helena Hufflepuff, and she will be traveling with three other companions, one woman and two men.
They will all be finely dressed- but I only want Helena dead- or at least severely maimed, the rest shall not be harmed."
The man smiled "We have a deal." he said. Helga slid the four hundred gold pieces across the table and smiled sweetly, something that contrasted with the sad look in her eyes.
She got up and walked two steps and then looked back and said with a dazzling smile "And if you fail, you will not receive your money- in fact, break our deal, and I will go to my other sources that can make people disappear, and I might just make you disappear… it's hard to do work from the grave," She paused for dramatic effect. "And that would be bad for your business, wouldn't it?"
...
Four people were traveling, seemingly without a purpose; however, the concentration etched on their faces suggested otherwise.
A slight shimmer surrounded them and the horses they rode in a glittery dome; some might have thought that it was dust kicked up by the horses.
The man knew otherwise.
The man was disguised, and lying supposedly passed out with a flask in his hand, flies buzzing around his rather large neck- a feat achieved by dabbing honey behind his ears.
Sounds of the four traveler's conversation drifted towards his ears. He heard a high pitched female voice say with inaccuracy due to her heavy sobbing.
"She left, I cannot believe she left."
At this point Helena turned to sob into Godric's shoulder because he happened to be riding next to her. The man looked surprised then he looked slightly smug, as if he just won a trophy, immediately afterwards though, he felt deep shame at drawing happiness from his friends pain.
Rowena spoke wisely. "If she wishes to return then she will return; all you need to do is give her a reason to make her want to come back, Helena."
The man that was supposedly 'passed out' twitched with interest at the name, while Salazar shared some wisdom of his own.
"You haven't exactly treated her fairly; stop to think of others instead of going for the sake of being stopped." Salazar looked proud as his companions turned and stared in bewilderment and newfound respect.
At this point the man quickly jumped up and grabbed two knives, one stored in his sleeve and the other stashed inside his flask; he crept up on the unsuspecting travelers and in a whirl kicked the horses in the back of their knee, knowing that that would make them unable to walk.
Rowena, Godric, Helena, and Salazar All reacted; Rowena pulled out her wand- a true witch, Godric quickly unsheathed his sword, completely forgetting that he was a wizard; Helena stood behind Salazar, who was loosening a ring from his finger while muttering in Latin.
In one kick the man brought his foot up to slice through the magical barrier Salazar was in the process of rising, Salazar fumbled with the ring and cursed, forgetting about the unfinished spell while he searched for the ring.
Godric brought up his sword to swing but the man unbalanced him by kicking out and hooking his foot behind Godric's and somersaulting through Godric's legs to the other side.
Godric fell to the ground; the sword fell a full two feet away from his outstretched hand. The man leaped up from his crouch and pinched Godric's ear hard and twisted, Godric passed out.
The man moved onto Rowena, calculating that she would be no threat without a wand in her hand- or if her opponent was spelled against magic.
He kicked the wand from her hand in a smooth even semi-leap as she frantically said spells, and was terrified when they took no effect.
With the stolen wand in hand he moved onto the sobbing figure by a tree- his target.
He only had to take two steps until he was in range to mutter the two words that would end a life forever, Adava Kadava!
...
Helena saw the wand, and as it pointed to her face, which showed her intense fear, she dodged behind the tree that she cowered meekly behind.
She took this chance to draw her own wand, while distracting the man by shouting, "Salazar!" to her old friend , who was still sifting through the dirt, apparently unaware of danger.
Salazar turned in annoyance for being disrupted, and his eyes widened in shock and fear at what he saw. Rowena, who had always taken care of robbers and such with her extraordinary wand-work, was face first in the dust.
He surveyed his other surroundings and quickly calculated that he was the only one neither conquered nor cornered; he felt a slight ironic twinge of jealousy, and a large sting in his pride, but nonetheless grateful that the enemy had not considered him a very large threat.
Salazar would be sure to prove him wrong. Having evaluated the situation, he acted quickly, grabbing a knife from the folds of his robes and concealing it under his palm as he pretended to crawl on all four legs, searching for the ring he had dropped; really, he crept up on the man that had cornered Helena.
Holding the knife at the man's back, he plunged it in, hard enough to keep the man in enough pain to fight back, but not painful enough to actually kill the man.
"Who sent you?" Salazar began harshly. "Or are you acting on your own?"
The man mustered enough energy to answer, but he too loyal to his own customers for his own good. "A man, a tall man, with large muscles and dark skin."
"Lying scum," Salazar spit. The man had named a generic sort of person, and had been fighting a grin the whole time.
Salazar plunged the knife harder into the man's chest and the man turned lifeless.
He turned to Helena and asked, "May I borrow that?" meaning the wand clutched in her hand.
His face softened noticeably when he saw her apparent fear.
"Please?" he added as if he was meaning something else.
Helena responded to his kind words as if they were fire thawing out a hard layer of ice. She smiled softly, yet sadly and then said quietly, "Yes, yes you may have my wand."
She laid it in Salazar's hand and closed his fingers around it.
"The scumbag still has Rowena's wand." She said just as sadly, but with a hint of vengeance in her voice now. "Make sure she gets it."
And with those parting words, she walked from the company of her three friends to find one traitor, her sister, Helga.
...
A rabbit hopped tentatively out of its haven of underbrush and thistles, searching for food for its newborns waiting inside.
A swift arrow pierced the rabbit's leg, and another hit it's fast-beating heart.
Hot blood spilled onto the grass. The hunter walked towards her dead prey, her tattered skirts whirling around her scratched and bruised legs as she walked.
She picked up the rabbit from one of its unharmed legs and slung it over her shoulder, not minding the flow of blood the cascaded down her neck.
Helga had had a rough fifteen days in the wilderness, growing up in extravagance and never having to lift a finger did not fare well for your fortunes when you must suddenly fend for yourself.
On her first day, she had gathered berries and had a fine time gazing at the natural splendor of the forest in full bloom.
However, as the soft blue sky turned to navy and the clouds started to congregate above Helga's head, and eventually the rain began to fall in warm, yet wet droplets, she decided to expand her knowledge of building small muddy shelters.
The rain continued for the next three days and two nights, and when it did finally stop there was nothing beautiful about the forest anymore, the soft, rich soil was muddy and the grass had turned a yellowish color.
The tunnels of green leaves and golden sunlight were gone, leaving behind drooping leaves, no sunlight, and everything weighed down by the weight of the gloom.
Helga spent the next three days wandering, and brooding over the fate of her sister.
She knew that if she was alive for some miraculous reason, that she would put together the pieces, Helena wasn't stupid.
Would her sister ever forgive her?
However, if she did not survive, which in all likelihood was what would happen, would she ever be able to forgive herself?
By then she had spent seven days all by herself in the wilderness, and had learned that no beauty can last, and that cruelty was a good shield, but it can't last forever, and then you must come to terms with yourself and chose either grief or happiness.
After brooding, the next stage was anger, and the anger consumed her for four days, and three nights.
She ran blindly through the forest on only her bare feet, slashing wildly at the trees and screaming at all the animals she encountered, not caring that her delicate feet and her dainty hands were ripped and sore, bleeding and stinging.
Her once shiny, fair hair that men (and the occasional woman) said gleamed like moonlight was now hanging ragged against her thin shoulders, grease dripping off it as if she was the candle wick and her hair the wax.
Helga's beautiful eyes, once an array of ice and water, were now clouded over and sunken.
She had never been this ugly in her entire life.
Eleven days by herself alone in the wilderness soon turned into the fifteen. That brought her to the present, bloodthirsty and consumed with grief.
As she ran with the rabbit slung around her shoulders in the same manner that one might sling a shawl casually around their neck when it was a bit cold out, she heard a faint noise that came from her left.
It was footsteps, light and dainty footsteps- those of a woman.
She turned a half circle so that if the intrusion was in truth an enemy, it would now come at her right side- her fighting side- instead of her weaker left side. She backed away slowly, hearing the noise of her own heavy breathing.
Then she broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
She sank to the ground, her tattered gown spreading out messily around her thin knees.
"Sister," she spoke slowly and deliberately, her eyes trained on her hands which were clutched together in her lap. "I have been in the wilderness for fifteen days. I have seen all of the horrors nature is capable of. I have seen a bird take flight with injured wings, only to fall to its death. I have seen an insect crawl from the safety of its home only to be eaten. And lastly, I have seen a fox devour its own kin to conquer a small territory to add to its own."
She filled with shame at saying this last part; she knew that her sister would understand the metaphor.
"How fitting these things describe me. I thought I could raise above all, leave home, and gain attention by murdering my sister- you. I was wrong, I was foolish. I would dedicate my life to goodness if you could find it in your heart to forgive me. If you will not forgive me I swear, I will hunt out every hurt animal and person, and help them to recover from whatever their ailment may be- from a broken leg to a broken heart. The only difference is that I would want you by my side."
Helga looked up at her sister's eyes, her own eyes swimming with tears.
"A pretty speech," Helena said casually. "But a simple, 'I'm sorry' would have sufficed."
And with that, they embraced.
I could not have written this without the expert help of my sister, melpomene94. Her merciless criticisms of my grammar and writing style prompted me to become a better writer. She approved this chapter. I hope you do, too! ( P.S However, I revised this chapter slightly after she edited it, so I expect that there are a few typos that I did not correct so just bear with me.)