Chapter 19: A Tall Hat's Tall Tale

Words: 4,746

Recap: This is James speaking. Percy's not here at the moment so let me do a better recap than him. So apparently, my roommate/best friend is a werewolf. Shocking. And for a moment, I almost thought we were going to die. It was awesome. Just when you think the crazy things are over, Lily came up and asked us for a favor. This week is turning out good for me.

Had anyone asked me when the best time for anyone to crept into a teacher's office in Hogwarts, dinner would be your best bet. Not only would the whole faculty be there, but the multitude of students wouldn't raise anyone's eyebrow if a few of them happen to be absent.

I was by the eagle-shaped gargoyle alongside Severus, waiting with bated breath for the next sweet's name the Old Mad Man uses for the day. Sev was anything but thrilled — his arm crossed tightly over his body like he's holding himself back, but I could sympathize with his reasons.

"We don't need him."

"Severus."

"We don't need him," he repeated insistently.

I lost count restarting the same conversation, "You at least owe him for the prank you did last fall."

"I don't owe that...that...self-absorbing mongrel and his cronies anything." Sev has more to say than just that; he went on to a long tirade of what he thinks of James and how much he deserved to be knocked off his high horse that our meeting with him is beginning to turn more into a ticking time bomb, ready to explode on our faces.

I silently pray to Hecate for any type of miracle so this night could end without anyone's blood on the floor.

"This isn't about you liking him. This is about putting the past aside and redeeming your mistake at the same time we are going to work together until we reach our collective goals, got it?"

Sev pursed his lips in distaste but nodded all the same, "Got it… but we still don't need him."

It took everything in me not to start another round of sighing. Well, I tried.

The distinctive footsteps instantly alerted me, my eyes shifted back and forth but were met by a hollowed hallway, winter breeze blows and sent shiver, not unlike a passing ghost would do, the tap-tap sound made it all the more evidence of another's presence.

Sure enough, the air seemed to ripple before it visibly shifted, uncovering three red-tied students occupying the previous empty hall.

James didn't find the arrangement any more agreeable than us, but it was still a bit of shock he would accept joining us at all. Next to him, looking hauntingly and imposingly at us, was Sirius. A wand in his hand, giving a silent warning that one wrong move from us would put us on the end of his stick. I guess letting Lily do the talking for us was the right choice.

"Where's the rest of your little group, Potter? Couldn't bother to show up to cover your arse and kiss it for you?"

Aaaaaannnnd we're making a great start already, aren't we?

"None of your greasy haired business, Snivellus. You're only lucky Evans here has a prettier face, or we would have made you beg us for help," James claimed with an upturned sniff.

Severus' face contorted in that I thanked Lily to intervene quickly.

"Really, only my face? And I thought it was my charming personality."

James spluttered and waved his arm exaggeratedly as he tried to be in Lily's good grace. Despite not being close, me and Sirius ended up snickering together at his sad attempt to impress her.

Thinking it's best to cut the chit-chat short before another fight broke out, I clapped loudly to get their attention, "Right, let's get this plan started. James, do you have the password?"

The shaggy-haired boy nodded and walked up on the front of the avian gargoyle, "Butterbeer Biscuit." There was a click, and the eagle statue began to shift and twist, revealing a set of stairs.

"Okay, you guys wait up here while I go to the office." I turned and was about to take the first step when an arm blocked my path upward.

"Sorry, but we don't trust you enough to handle this alone." Sirius tried to comment casually, "You don't mind if I take you up in searching this mysterious clue with you, do you?"

I could tell at the corner of my eyes that Sev had a few words of what he thought of that, but I put on my best passive look, "By all means, come along." I pushed his arm away and continued my way onward, followed by light footsteps behind. Despite an annoying shadow tailing me around, I admit it's weird to be actively trying to get in trouble in school. Usually, trouble comes wherever I want to or not. Guess I'll have to cross off "Breaking into the Principal's office" from my list.

When we finally hit the office, my mind whirled to the last time I talk with Dumbledore here. Nothing changes as I recalled — not like it was hard to forget — silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. Portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses on the wall, either glancing down curiously at me or pretending to sleep. An enormous, clawfoot desk, and sitting on the shelf behind it was a shabby, tattered wizard's hat; the Sorting Hat.

Just the one I needed.

I grabbed hold of it and was about to put it on my head for some questions, "What are you doing?" Sirius' question was borderline demanding and made me want to ignore him in spite, but I kept that urge tamped down.

"We don't know about the Treasure enough to understand the clue we have — what it is and why it was hidden in the first place — so the next best thing is to ask the most probable person who knows all the secret of Hogwarts," I smirked as I showed him what most likely be the icon of a stereotypical wizard hat. "Who better than the one who's lived through the years besides the founder?"

"Wait, so your plan is to...ask the Sorting Hat where the Treasure is?"

"I doubt it'd be that easy. There would be no point for the elaborate riddles otherwise, but we might find out more secrets or clues if we learn more about the Founders and the treasure they hid."

Sirius begrudgingly admitted it was a good idea and said nothing as I put the hat on me for the first time since my first day in Hogwarts.

Ahh… a curious thing. What brings you here, little Half-Blood? I don't often get to sit on the same head twice.

"You tell me. You're in my head, aren't you?"

Deep chuckle reverberated in my mind, and I had to repress a shudder. It was a weird thing to have a thought that's not your own inside your head. Is this how sharing a mind feels like?

You seek for the Treasure of Hogwarts. His chuckle became full-blown laughter. A thousand years I've been in Hogwarts, and this is the first time someone has asked me this. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you anything on its whereabouts.

"What can you tell me then?"

Hmm, as you've suspect, I have only stories of how the treasure came to be.

"Well, get on with it then."

But that's all they are. Stories. What could they be used to you?

I was silent a bit, trying to come up with a proper answer to what I felt of stories. "One of the first things I learn as a Half-Blood is that we survive from the stories of the past."

The hat's chuckle seized, and the silence in my head became a bit disturbing instead of the opposite.

Very well, close your eyes and let me be the first to tell you—the story of how Gryffindor's Treasure came to be. But to do that, you must know how the Four Founders united.

. . .

Godric Gryffindor was never always the dashing wizard knight that everyone knows and loves.

(Aren't you laying the compliment a bit too thick?)

(Quiet, you! I had barely started.)

He was an ordinary farm boy who happens to have two wizards as a parent. He had been energetic as a child and has a heart of gold. However, he believed he was meant for greater things. Godric then joined knighthood along the time the Kingdom of England was found.

Godric was unparalleled in his nimble hands around his sword and his large build that braved through challenges helped him rose in rank. Famous for his charming wit and funny disposition, making him beloved by his squadrons and the common folks, although the man was also renowned for his horrid singing.

(No surprise.)

Despite that, dear old Gryffindor never forgot his roots and secretly practiced magic within the castle's hidden parts. Wizards were not harder to gain contact with one another, but ask the right question, and you would be ushered to the nearest hidden wizarding place. He was exceptionally talented with charms, curses, and any spells that use wandwork.

My mindscape was occupied by the picture of Godric, not far from who I imagined his younger version of the painting I saw of him would be like, sweating beneath the sun as he produced excellent workmanship within the confines of his metal armor. He was a man with long ginger hair tied behind with a sideburn, rugged chin, and hazel eyes that sparkled with mischievous and challenge. For some reason, he reminded me a bit of James. Just his demeanor though, not his face. His face would have been a Medieval version of Chris Pine.

However, the war still fresh within the people's minds before King Athelstan had decreed the abolitions of magic in his kingdom. He was the first king to unite England into one flag, but after being a warring state for so long, he needed something to relieve the tension. And so they set up the only thing they could think of.

Competition.

(What? Seriously, that's all it took?)

(Never underestimate the friendship comes from a few rowdy bets and good fights. Why do you think muggles kept on with their Olympics?)

And never did anyone realize they unveiled the planning Fates had in store at that moment.

My mind was filled with the images of a long lost. I was reminded of all those movie reenactments of the medieval age. Stone cobbled houses, people in rag clothes as they go about their day, the many farm animals being pulled through the street that you could almost smell the barnyard scent from the whole town.

People all over England came together that day for the great competition where people from the four great lands pit their best against each other for the title of the best.

(So this fight is just a way to let off steam and get the right for the better-than-thou boasts?)

(...you're not shutting up any time soon, are you?)

(Prrroooooobably not.)

Haa...anyway, where was I? Of course, fearless Gryffindor took no time to draft himself. He took on knights big and small on the fated day, climbing his way to the top. Many eyes were upon him, some with awe, some with envy, and one even was curious.

Because among those spectators was a noble guest who came from the far Fen.

That man was Salazar Slytherin.

A quiet came to mind from within the shadows, which is a surprising skill to do it in broad daylight. I never imagined anyone could have natural silver hair, and yet here he was, with upturned hawk-like nose, sharp pointy chin, and cunning eyes that tells anyone who sees that there's always something tick and turns within his broad mind. Unlike Godric's unruly hair, his was the utmost pristine care, not unlike Lucius, that I doubt most girls would use the number of hair products for their hair as much as he would for his.

He came from a prideful and shrewd family. They were much known for sacrificing the lives of hundreds of wizards and witches to keep the good grace of the Royal Irish family in their back pockets. Salazar was never one to be satisfied with what life has given him. For better or worse, he is ambitious. He believes wizards and witches are not meant to depend on muggles for their livelihood.

Those two, however, weren't the only wizards in hiding. An event such as this is an open invitation for wizards from near and far to slip into the masses, such as a preppy Helga Hufflepuff, a humble herbologist who came from good ol' Wales.

A plump young woman, brunette tied in a bun as she sorted her stall among the rest of the merchants. She was carefully cataloging her merchandise in two separate tables from her bag. Still, one plant nearly bit her finger off before shoving it back down.

Seeking enough fortune from selling her prized plants, the dense crowds helped many wizards and witches sell their merchandise inconspicuously. Though sneaking in the Mandrakes had been a pain through the checkpoint—kind of like certain wanderlust Hufflepuff I know and his kept beasts.

(Who?)

Nevermind that. Then last, there's intelligent Rowena Ravenclaw, who was only passing by.

(...That's it?)

(That was it. Rowena had never been one to like crowds. Especially when she was a runaway princess up from Scotland.)

(Oh, I see, I see– Wait a second, what do you mean by runawa–)

She came for knowledge for knowledge's sake, searching for books and artifacts from places far and wide. It just so happened that she came to the festival.

Again, in my mind's eye was the picture of a woman standing out amidst the sea of people. Not because of her clothes or anything, just from the way she stands and holds herself was enough to tell that she came from a higher upbringing than mere commoners. Her dark brunette hair hid within her hood, and her gray eyes reminded me of McGonagall, sharp that tolerates no-nonsense.

Four diverse people came for four different purposes. You would think it's unlikely for their paths to intersect. However, on the last day of the festival, that's when everything went sideways.

Rowena was found only because of chance. When during her quick skimming of books of what might be a hidden spellbook, using a simple Revelio spell, she whispered to the books before buying one she wants. Though some books were hidden more uniquely, such as needing to shake it, dripping blood into it, or you had to be a wizard to be able to open.

What she had not accounted for was that some books were a bit more alive than others as she accidentally revealed opened a wild one. It wreaked havoc by shredding books, clothes, and food from the stalls around until Rowena was pushed to quell in her terms.

Least to say, they were gawking all around her by that point.

(You tell me.)

At the height of the festival, Salazar had been summoned by his brother within the depths of the castle. The thick crowd was the perfect cover for him to kill Salazar, unbeknownst to anyone/ Thus, undermining the new king in the process for letting it happen within his home ground. Salazar didn't let him off easily. Faced in a wizarding duel, the green-robed man was a better wizard between the two, and he wasn't going down without a fight. But the sparks of their conflict hadn't gone unnoticed and invited the guards down to investigate. The two wizard nobles were quick to hide their wands, but the younger brother was quick to accuse his fellow flesh and blood of attempting sorcery and how he had tried to stop him — forcing the older man to flee the scene with a quick apparition.

Helga's reason was nothing more because of her blunder, switching magical plants with regular ones. It was no wonder her customer screamed when a rosemary started walking and dancing on her cart. Nor was the scream of "witch!" soon after.

The fact she had to abandon her cart was the most heartbreaking thing for Helga as she ran for her life.

Godric has fought his way into the final round. Crowds were growing wild by his great feet coming from a farm boy. Too naive and straightforward was he that he did not realize the implication of rousing the jealousy of the noble knights he had stumped single-handedly.

They disapprove of his achievement because of his origin. Prestige was everything in that period, so it took a band of adolescent knights-in-training thinking it was a great idea to paint Godric as a wizard in front of the masses was a great idea.

(I take it did not go over well.)

(Understatement of that century.)

And so they all ran. One from a cheated customer. One from bad luck. The other from a prank gone wrong. And last from a jealous family. They ran, and ran, deeper into the woods. To the moment their fate intersect.

(You kept saying fate this, fate that, can you get on with it?)

(You keep forgetting who's telling the story, cheeky little brat.)

Each made a turn, each out of chances, but then the four came to meet within an open clearing, out from the shadows of old dying trees. There were no introductions between them, only the exchange of wide panic eyes of the four that tells the whole story. When the sound of their pursuers was close, it didn't take long for them to begin running together as if they had done so for years.

"Wait, we can't go there!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"She's right," Helga added her thoughts, "That's the Dead Forest–"

"Charming name," Salazar drawled.

"–the first forest to ever grow on earth. Even muggles know not to set foot on its path."

"Well, we either go onward, or the one dead shall be us." Godric was the first to run head straight to the creepy dark forest of doom. At a glance, it might look brave, but I can't shake the fact he looked ready to run headfirst into danger just for the hell of it.

The others only needed to glance at one another before following from behind. Deeper still until not even shadow of them left. The soldiers who followed did not dare to step through the cursed woods and decided to report their victory in chasing off the witches off the ground.

Once the danger of pursuit had ceased, that was when one of the most awkward introductions in history was made.

The scene changed to the four being chased (again), this time by a ten-foot-tall walking tree, plodding through the forest without a care, and it apparently breathes out fire like a furnace. There's a lot of things wrong with that picture that I'm not sure which one to point out first.

"Ah told yeh nat to go to the forest! I told yeh! But did any of yeh listen? Nae!"

"Shut yer yap, Woman, and start running!"

"I AM RUNNIN' YEH HALF-MAN TWIG!"

"SAY THAT AGAIN, YE BANSHEE!"

"By the way, would anyone mind give out their names?"

Salazar turned incredulous at Godric, "Yer asking this now? Now?!"

"Oh, I'm Helga. Helga Hufflepuff."

"I'm surrounded by a crew of no-brain roosters!"

To say the least, they had a rocky start in their relationship.

The scene didn't end there. For some reason or another, Helga stopped in her track and looked back at the monstrous tree coming right at her. Her companions were shouting her name and hurrying away, but her next words managed to silence them.

"This isn't real." The yellow woman looked back and pointed at the still moving creature, "See, I implore you to properly see it. He's breathing fire, but nothing burns. He walks, but there are no footprints or broken trees on his tracks. It's not real!"

They all calmed down somewhat but still ready to fly at any given moment. The still closing of the Giant Tree did not make it easier to put aside their nerves. But once the tree had reached out for the lone Hufflepuff standing before it dissipated into the mist. A giddy smile spread to her cheeks, and they all spare a moment to be euphoric from not getting killed by an actual tree monster.

"What sorcery is this?"

"An illusion. The forest's way of protecting itself from intruders within their domain."

"Great. This is just great." Rowena couldn't help the snark, "Not only muggles but also a whole forest trying to out us."

"This is all yer fault!" The nobleman pointed the rough knight.

"My fault?!"

"Yer run and drag us into this insipid death trap. If ye stopped and think, ye would know we could have handled facing a bunch of muggles."

"Outlandish claim you cry from a kin such as yours. Do you think I don't know of your family, Slytherin?

"What did yer say of my family?"

The back and forth bickering only helps flamed the tension. Poor Rowena had enough. "QUIET! ALL OF YE, SHUUSH!"

Ironically, her resulted cry unknowingly provoke the hidden nesting of creepy tall legged pigs that looks could literally suck the life out of you.

Helga gasped, "Don't make sudden moves. Those are Nogtails. They're not violent, but they could give you nasty diseases if you're not careful."

"Oh, come on!" Godric got up and boldly faced some of the pigs with an outstretched hand, "They're likelier to be illusions than not–" A chomped to his hand cut off his words, and they all run the second Godric cried a high pitched yelp with a herd of Nogtails on their tails.

They barely have time to catch their breath before getting bombarded with either the forest's residents or faced with illusions, which was the headache-inducing part. It was a bit funny watching the four people esteemed to be these great wizards and witches that helped shape the wizarding society today, having their very own rendition of a scooby-doo run. But they weren't famous for nothing; the Founders were quick to adapt working together to go against the forest until midnight came and they finally had time to make a campfire for a reprieve, and when they began to open up with one another as they bared their soul.

"Wait, your brother tried to kill you, and that's all you have to say? You're impressed?!" Godric cried, eyebrows raised at the fact.

"I survived this far because I was the most cautious one, unlike my 11 other siblings were disposed of in much more...unique...circumstances. It was an admirable move of him to turn the unfavorable situation of our exposed duel into a way to make myself fall from grace. I'm more ashamed of not thinking it sooner, blasted brother of mine."

(Wait, wait, wait. His brother admitted trying to kill him, and that's how he reacted?)

(They were a cold-blooded family in the medieval age. Civil war among family members is practically tradition then. His eleven other brothers were either fell, burned, stabbed, or poisoned to death from mysterious causes.)

(Getting stab is a mysterious cause?)

Helga and Godric stared long and hard, clearly eye-boggling at his words that were not normal. Only Rowena seemed to be able to sympathize with him as she nodded along in his story, "I know, family, right? Teh things they do fer power."

Half of the Founders were looking more concerned by their fellow companions but not brave enough to ask if they were alright mentally. Helga decided to change the subject by telling them of her pride garden that she grew herself and held a double business by selling both herbal remedies for muggles and potion ingredients for wizards.

"That's a risky thing to do for yeh to do. I don't understand why yeh do it for them. It's a miracle you haven't been outed until today." Rowena commented.

"I can't not help them when someone in needs my expertise. Not all muggles are bad, you know." Helga defended them, "In fact, I found them quite delightful."

Salazar rolled his eyes, "Oh great, yer one of those."

Rowena snorted in agreement, "Ay, they are until they decided to put you on the stake. Their ignorance for all things magic is almost painful to watch. Sometimes I wonder if they just want to see senseless violence regardless of innocence."

"Because you don't know them just as muggles don't know us. I can't say they aren't evil in people who love to watch suffering, but I've lived with muggles my whole life, and I can say for certain I know those who would lay their life for me as I for them. The noble heart doesn't just come from one kind, you know." Godric gave his two-cent in the end.

They did more than that as they also protect one another.

Rowena looked like she was diligently reciting what she knows of magical fungus they find while Helga had no problem picking it despite the unusual spore it made. All the while Godric was in the background, holding off a miniature Cerberus with his sword, with Salazar shooting spells from a bit away.

They learn from each other.

Salazar passionately made long-winded speeches for the spell he was teaching Godric, but the former knight ignored him and dived right in any way, jumping from the recoil of his rebounded spell and slamming onto the nearest noble. Rowena and Helga laughed at the scene even as one had furry skin while the other had blue, spiky hair with an uneaten plant on hand. Clearly, they had botched teachings as well. But they relish the laughter anyway, even the uptight Salazar, for who could have the chance to say anyone laughed joyously in the middle of the Death Forest?

And you know what they say; there are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and struggling together in a deadly forest with fellow wizard fugitives are one of them.

(I have never heard of that ridiculous saying before.)

On the last day of their venture in the woods, they were met by a herd of reindeers.

(I'm sorry, reindeers? Did I hear that right?)

Yes, they were just as confused since reindeers were not ones associated with extreme violence and generally passive creatures. However, when the large beats came surrounding them out of the shadow of the forest, it did not ease the tension within them until they were ushered to the heart of the woods.

Lay within them was the biggest reindeer of all, fur as white as snow that radiant power within the blackness of the woods, while its antlers shone gold in contrast. It also intertwined with the trees' branches. As if the one reindeer was living and breathing alongside the forest.

The Founders were all mystified by its presence.

The Reindeer told them about the forest. How the muggles not only targets wizards but magical creatures as well. They are killing the forest in return. The one Reindeer had been trying to support it with its life force, but it was scarcely enough.

So in return for releasing them, the Reindeers implore them to take the seed for them to grow someday when magic can safely thrive the land once more.

Helga was the one entrusted with the seed, and once she accepted it. All the reindeers began to run in tandem. They run in a cluster until they were floating on thin air, circling them like a whirlwind before they were swept by the wind and vanished. Leaving them precisely not at the forest they were in.

"So... we're out."

"You're right."

"I supposed."

"Then this is the end of our line."

But it wasn't the end of their line, only the continuation of a long journey.

AN: Finally DONE! God, it was awful trying to write about the Founders. I can't seem to make up my mind. I want to make it as vague as possible but at the same time, I want to write Rowena yelling "Half-man twig" at Salazar. And it still not enough to write the whole story about them. Sorry for anyone that PM or Review and I didn't reply. I don't have the time at the moment and even now it's a stretch to publish this before I'm off. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

Also, REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW. Hehe, I'm a sucker for reviews so do express how you feel about this chapter.