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Chapter 21 – Helga

Flying on a thestral was the most exhilarating experience of Helga's entire life and she had a strong feeling that nothing would ever beat it.

The wind flew through her hair as she held on for dear life. But the beast underneath her was gentle and careful and never flew too fast or too slow. They were quite high up, to try and avoid the eyes of those without magic down below. Helga fought the urge to shriek with joy as her thestral dived down and then straight back up again. The creature was playing with her and she loved it.

The same could not be said, however, for Rowena. Looking across at her friend, Helga found the raven-haired woman was pale and her face was positively green. Her eyes were clenched shut and she was whispering things to herself, over and over. Behind her, Oswin sat with his arms around her waist, perfectly comfortable, occasionally telling her that it would all be fine. Rowena never answered him. Helga wondered whether she was, in fact, plotting Oswin's murder.

Helga returned to her own thoughts. She wondered whether, by any lucky draw, Salazar or Godric would have made it to Scotland on their own. More likely, she surmised, they were probably dead. The thought of that suddenly made her world feel very empty. A crazy thought flashed through her mind of her leaving the convent to be with her friends. Could she do that? Would they even want her to do that? She had made the convent her home but then…she had never taken the final step, complete commitment. She had always thought it was because she wasn't ready yet and that, when she reached eighteen she would feel like it was the right thing to do. But now she was there, it didn't feel quite as obvious. It had never been her calling anyway; most women who arrived at the convent had felt a calling or received one whilst there, but Helga had turned up there in a state of terror having burned her house to the ground. No calling ever came.

"Not long now!" Oswin's voice boomed over the wind rushing past Helga's ears.

She yelled back, "Alright! How is Ro!?"

A small smirk flashed across Oswin's dark features but quickly vanished, "Struggling, but she'll be fine!" He shouted.

Helga nodded. She peered downwards but couldn't see anything through the layers of black and clouds. Tentatively, she stretched out one arm, still holding on with the other. Oswin continued to talk gently to Rowena.

Once balanced, Helga put out her other arm and let out a screech of delight, "This is amazing!"

She was right, nothing would ever beat this.

XXXX

"Do you remember how to land!?" Oswin yelled across to Helga.

"Yes, I think so!" She replied, grabbing back on to thestral, presuming she had grasped its neck.

"Then we start descending now!" Oswin ordered.

Helga turned away from him and focused all her attention on the invisible creature below her. Patting it gently she said, "Come on then, down we go."

Squeezing with her heels she began to engineer their descent. Slowly but surely, the creature lowered itself through the sky. Then, all of a sudden, the ground was rushing up to meet Helga and she screamed. With a vicious bump, the thestral landed, throwing Helga forward and over its head.

Lifting her hair back from her eyes, Helga heard chuckling above her. Looking up, she found Oswin laughing slightly and offering her a hand. She took it gratefully.

"Perhaps just a little more practice, eh?"

"Yes, I think so." Helga said quietly, brushing her dress down.

Rowena stood a little way to the left, still looking sickly pale. Helga's suspicions were confirmed when Rowena leaned over and hurled onto the ground. Helga rushed over to her.

"Ro, are you alright?" She knew it was a silly question. Rowena just held up a hand and then hurled again. Helga threw a pleading glance at Oswin. He took out his wand and approached carefully, avoiding anywhere Rowena might possibly choose to be sick on next.

"Hold still." He ordered and waved his wand over Rowena's head, "Better?" he asked.

Almost immediately, Rowena nodded, wiping her mouth.

"Thank you." She muttered.

"You have to show me how to cure all these sicknesses!" Helga grinned at Oswin. Then a thought occurred to her, "Have you tried curing the terrible sickness that's spreading across the country?"

"I have." Oswin said, "But I was unsuccessful. I believe it is of magical origin."

So, their suspicions were confirmed. And it must have been Burke who began it.

Helga assessed their position. They were, as it appeared to her, standing alone in the middle of a mountain range, watching the sun rise very slowly. It was cool, but not cold and the wind had lessened slightly from what it had been when they had been in the sky.

"There's nobody here." Rowena voiced Helga's thoughts for her.

Oswin frowned, "Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean, we are completely alone in the middle of nowhere!" Rowena said, her voice rising in anger. Helga could only agree with her. Had the whole thing been untrue? Were they sent after something that didn't exist?

But then a voice came from nowhere. A voice Helga knew.

"Rowena?! Helga?! Are you really here!?"

"Godric?!" Rowena cried, whirling around to try and locate the red-head.

Oswin was busy chuckling away to himself but took the time to place his hands on Rowena's shoulders and turn her back around. He did the same with Helga and then whispered to them both, "Close your eyes. And when you open them again, really look!"

Helga blinked. Still she could see nothing. She felt stupid, staring into the sunrise, looking for something that wasn't there. But then Godric's voice sounded again, closer this time.

Helga shut her eyes tight and thought about the thestrals. She had spent enough time with things she couldn't see in the past few days to last her a lifetime. And she opened her eyes again.

Immediately arms enveloped her. Strong, sturdy arms that smelled of pine and sweat.

"Helga! How did you get here?" Godric asked, releasing her to embrace a stunned Rowena who had also reopened her eyes.

"Bu…but…but…how?" she uttered.

"Magic." Godric whispered to her, winking devilishly.

And it was magical. When Helga had reopened her eyes not only had Godric Gryffindor appeared, seemingly from nowhere, but numerous houses had just popped up in front of her. Not enough to be considered a significant settlement of any sort, but somewhere you definitely could not have missed. And yet she had?

"It's a protection charm, so that muggles don't wander across it." Oswin explained.

"You've been here before?" Rowena asked him.

"Once." Oswin shrugged, "When I was a very small child."

Well, Helga thought, he'd kept that quiet.

"Where's Sal?" Godric said suddenly, peering around them, as if his best friend might be hiding from him.

Helga felt her throat go dry. Rowena made a cracked sound and opened her mouth but nothing more came out.

"He was taken by Burke." Helga managed, "He caught up to us and tried to kill Rowena and I. We're only alive thanks to Oswin, here. Salazar…Burke seemed interested in him so he kept him. I'm so sorry Godric."

Godric's face betrayed his anger and Rowena finally found her voice, "It's my fault. Helga and Salazar did all they could to try and protect me and the baby."

The cool morning air was tense for a second and then it all dissipated as Godric yanked Rowena in to hug her again, tears suddenly streaming down his face.

"It's not your fault." He repeated over and over into her ear. Helga looked away as Rowena began to cry too.

"We'll get him back, I promise, Godric, I promise." She whispered.

Again, Helga felt doubt creeping into her mind like a spider. Burke would most definitely either have converted Salazar to his cause or killed him and Helga didn't know which would be worse. Plus, she missed him and it would kill her to hope he was alright and then find out that he wasn't. But then, Godric was here- alive and breathing. Maybe hope wasn't such a curse after all.

XXXX

Godric took them into a small house that looked very old and very cold. And it was. A single fire was lit in the living room where three people were present, chatting. They stopped, however, when Godric entered, followed by the others.

Helga took them in slowly. Nearest the fireplace and leaning casually on the wall was a tall man bearing a striking resemblance to Godric, with fiery red hair and blue eyes. He was, however, extremely muscled and his frame was much bigger. Next to him, lounging lazily in a chair was a beautiful woman, the type Helga had been told about in fairy stories as a child. Her long, silky hair flowed effortlessly down her shoulders and her piercing eyes were the most astonishing Helga had ever seen in her life. Helga imagined that most men would fawn over this woman without being able to help themselves. Finally, sat in another chair, was a man Helga recognised, mainly because he had only one ear.

"Ladies, this is Robin Weasley," Godric gestured to the muscly red-head who nodded at them, "Cassandra," the woman smiled, "and you already know our good friend, Denby." The man with one ear grinned at them.

"Who have you brought to meet us Godric?" Cassandra asked softly. Helga felt her stomach drop. Even the woman's voice was like velvet.

"Cass, this is Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and their friend…" Godric trailed off, realising he had not found out who Oswin was.

"Oswin Bonham." Helga blurted, nodding to their thestral training healer. Oswin smiled his thanks and muttered greetings to the others.

Cassandra, however, only had eyes for Helga and Rowena. It made Helga quite uncomfortable.

"Three of you are here, how wonderful. But where is the fourth? Must we wait longer for him Godric?"

Helga frowned, Cassandra obviously knew something more about them that she wasn't letting on.

Godric sighed, "I don't know Cass, Ro and Helg say they lost Sal to Burke which means he's in great danger. Part of me wants to go and find him now but the rest of me knows that's foolishness."

"Is it?" Helga piped up. She still felt horribly guilty for leaving Salazar behind with Burke. She knew it had been more important to look after Rowena and the baby, but still.

"Yes," Godric said, and he looked oddly giddy, "because I know he'll be just fine because of Cassandra's prophecy."

"Prophecy?" Rowena scoffed and she looked disgusted.

"Yes, prophecy." Robin Weasley said and his voice was low and gravelly, like a warning not to insult the beautiful woman in the chair.

"I have given a prophecy that the four of you, Godric, you girls and Salazar Slytherin, will do great things in the near future and so he cannot come to any harm until those things have come to pass." Cassandra announced.

Helga stared at her, squinting dubiously. She couldn't be serious.

"You want us to risk the life of our friend on a few lines you said whilst you were drunk?" Rowena asked incredulously.

"Watch your words!" Robin started towards Rowena but Godric got in front of her first.

"No! It's alright, Robin. Some are not educated about the merits of prophecies." Cassandra said in her pitch perfect voice.

This seemed to have the right effect on Robin and he backed down from Godric.

Rowena muttered something next to Helga that sounded suspiciously like, "Uneducated? Me? She ought to take a look in the mirror!"

"Perhaps Rowena would be more open to the idea if you shared your prophecy with us." Godric suggested, "After all, many in this settlement have heard it and yet not us despite it being about us."

While Cassandra mused this over Helga wondered aloud, "Is this a village then? Do people live here?"

"Not permanently." Oswin said from behind her, "Witches and Wizards come to stay for temporary periods of time and learn from each other whilst here. It's sort of like a holiday learning camp."

Helga frowned. It would make more sense to her to just live here and learn from others. Even better, to bring ones' children here so that they could learn from a young age. She decided she might voice this thought later.

"Alright," Cassandra said finally, "I shall tell you three the prophecy and you may share it with Salazar when he arrives, which," she looked meaningfully at Rowena, "I am sure he will."

Godric let out a breath which Helga had reason to believe he had been holding in for quite a while.

Next to Helga, Rowena made a small growling noise.

"We are definitely not going to be friends." She muttered, glaring at the goddess-like woman in the chair. Helga bit her lip. She had a feeling Rowena was right.