...
HARRY POTTER AND THE FOUNDERS' GIFTS
by
Narnian Dreams
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by J. K. Rowling.
2. The Wandering
"The world is vast and meant for wandering. There is always somewhere else to go"
-Nick Burd
Early morning of the 28th of May in the year 1995, a pair of hazel eyes blinked tiredly. For almost four days, their owner's dreams were plagued with nightmares, and that morning was no better. Hands reached and touched the temples, softly massaging them to avoid the terrible headache that was yet to come.
Hazel eyes tried to focus on the ceiling of the four-poster bed while attempting to piece together the meaning of those nightmares. A groan escaped from the lips, as the dreamer shifted their weight to the side of the bed. What was the nightmare about? There was a lake. That was for sure, and an old castle. Much like the place which the dreamer was very familiar with. Was it a dream? Or by any chance- a vision?
A laugh escaped from the lips, as the subject of our story realized the utter ridiculousness of that thought. But really? What was the real reason for the nights to be plagued with nightmares and unable to have a wink of sleep?
"Su? Are you awake?" A strained voice from the other end of the dormitory shook our auburn-haired protagonist from the deep thoughts. The one with the hazel eyes wondered whether or not to respond, but the heart was filled with Hufflepuff kindness, which prompted to reply in affirmation.
"Yah" the voice of Susan Bones, - the auburn-haired protagonist of the chapter- echoed in the Hufflepuff fourth year dormitory. "I couldn't sleep"
"Nightmares again?" The first voice, which was Hannah Abbott's was laced with worry, which Susan noticed.
The girl immediately felt guilty of worrying her best friend, and immediately reassured the other girl. "It's nothing I can't handle. Go back to sleep, Hannah. It's still too early for you to worry"
Five minutes later, completely abandoning the idea of going back to sleep, Susan Bones stepped out of her dormitory and into the empty Hufflepuff common room. It was early hours in the morning and the sun was yet to rise. The girl was dressed in her most comfortable attire suitable for the weather. Yellow and black scarf was draped around her shoulders, in order for warmth in the early spring morning. The dying embers of the fireplace gave an orange glow to the darkened room.
A long sigh escaped from her lips, as the girl proceeded to walk across the common room. The sound of her slippers were muffled by the soft carpeted black floor. She found herself exiting the Hufflepuff Common room, and in the hallway, which divided the paths to the kitchens, the Basement and towards the Great Hall.
'It is too early for breakfast' Susan realized. It was not as if she was hungry, but it was just a calm observation which she bothered to think about.
She walked on the path leading to the Great Hall, and proceeded on taking a turn to the left finding herself in front of almost hundred flights of stairs, which lead to the upper floors of the Hogwarts castle.
.
It was only when she felt her hair dance to the rhythm of the wind, and her skin tingling to the coldness of the night air that she really relaxed. She didn't know why she had wandered over to the astronomy tower at this hour of the morning, but Susan felt utterly calm.
Now, what was the reason for her nightmares? The plagued dreams all started on the morning of her birthday. While the details were lost to her, she was quite sure that they awakened a sense of deja-vu.
The rising sun in the horizon radiated light, warming the environment. Susan watched, fascinated by the way everything glowed, with no trace of the previous darkness.
"You seem troubled my dear" Susan was dragged out of her thoughts by a deep voice behind her. When she turned around, she found herself smiling at her companion.
"I didn't know you'd be here" she said softly, once again going back to watch the sunrise.
"Oh! I can go to any place I'm allowed to" the girl could feel the pleasant giddiness of her friend. "But that doesn't explain why a girl like you doing alone at the top of the astronomy tower at this time of the morning. Do you expect any company?"
The fifteen year girl's cheeks turned red, as she forced her glare towards the spectre next to her. "Come off it Friar, you know I've got no lover"
An honest laugh escaped from the Hufflepuff House ghost, and Susan found herself giving in, her mood instantly becoming somber. "I don't know what's happening to me"
The ghost floated close to her, his icy presence made her skin tingle in the process. "Why, pray tell dear, how did you come to this conclusion?"
Susan looked back at the stout spectre of the Hufflepuff ghost, those kind eyes and the encouraging smile reminded her of the times when she was just a first year at Hogwarts trying to adjust to the environment. Eleven year old Susan bonded with the friendly ghost when he became her nightly companion in those first few weeks when her mind was plagued with nightmares of her family's death. He comforted her, with the same kind eyes with no judgment and the encouraging smile, telling little Susan of an era of peace and harmony, of witty Hufflepuffs and loyal Slytherins, of ambitious Gryffindors and brave Ravenclaws. 'Because' he had said. 'The Hat only knows who you have been. But not who you will grow up to be'
It was because of his kind eyes with no judgement that Susan trusted the Friar. It was because of that reason she found herself opening up to him.
"Nightmares -sometimes" she began with a sigh. "Dreams -which can be really confusing. Visions- maybe. I wonder if I'm actually going bloody mental!" She looked down, her cheeks tinted with a faint pink as she realized her outburst. "I'm sorry- it's just-"
"Understandable my dear, let it all out. You will feel a lot more at ease if you speak of what you have in your mind" the ghost said, with a hint of concern at the auburn hairs girl. "Although I must say, it's better to go back to the Great Hall for your breakfast. Let me accompany you, and you can tell me all about your fears"
Susan noticed that the morning light falling on the astronomy tower made the Hufflepuff Ghost look much more transparent than the darkened hallways of the school. Although his voice was calm, the ghost was fidgeting, as if the sunlight was affecting him. Was that possible? Does sunlight cause any harm to the ghosts? Maybe it's worth some research. With that in mind, the girl agreed to walk back to the castle halls, and opting to speak of her dreams.
She gave him a vague ideas of her dreams, -as the real details were lost to her- of a castle with a lake, of witches and wizards, a fire and most importantly- four figures which happened to be a constant part of it. By the time she was done, the pair of them, the ghost and the girl were turning towards the last corridor to the Great Hall. Few students were making their way for their breakfast, and most of them didn't pay any attention to the pair of them. Those that did, Only greeted them with a 'Good Morning!' and a small nod at their direction.
Susan turned to face the Hufflepuff House Ghost. The Friar was not smiling, although there was something akin to a sad understanding in his eyes. "My dear, I do believe you. But I don't think I can exactly say how or why you are having these -visions as you say- but I do know something" the floating spectre held his plan to the side of her chest, she could feel his icy presence in her heart. "Follow your heart. Follow whatever you think is right. I am quite sure it won't lead you astray"
With that, the the ghost turned around, and floated through a stone wall inform of him, disappearing from her view and leaving her alone with her thoughts.
The girl stared at the spot where the ghost had floated off to for a few seconds, her mind trying to register what had just happened. She blinked twice, shrugging at the strange behavior of her floating friend and turned around to go to the Great Hall for breakfast. It didn't escape her notice however, that the hallway was almost empty except for herself and three others. Had she been thinking for so long? Frowning at herself and shaking her head, she walked along the corridor, and took a turn to her right.
The thought of her breakfast went right out of the window, when she noticed a figure with green and black robes running to the opposite direction, almost knocking her down. The figure looked as if they didn't notice her and the girl was almost offended. Susan didn't see their face, but she had a hunch that they weren't a Hogwarts student. Granted, the figure might be a Durmstrang or Beauxbatons, but she doubted it. she wondered why none of the others in the corridor didn't notice of them. True to her thoughts, none of the other students walking along, didn't spare her a glance as she stumbled away. Unable to restrain her curiosity and before she could realize she was being quite -dense- as Justin would say- Susan decided to trail the green and black robed person.
'Stupid' She knew that. But the Friar had asked her to follow her heart- and that is what she would be doing. Quickly and quietly she followed them ignoring the other students around her, through the corridor, across a passage of stairs and finally gaining up to them until they took a right turn to another corridor. She did call out to them, although Susan wasn't sure if the didn't hear her or ignored her.
Nevertheless when she finally caught up to the speed and took the same turn to her right, she promptly stumbled down, dragging down someone along with herself.
.
"- certainly think they are up to sometin-"
"-No good, of course! That's what they are-"
"Merlin, Hermione, did you just- OOF"
Oh, of course- out of all the people in the whole school, Susan just had to stumble on the Gryffindor Trio. Just her luck, now they would think she was out of her mind!
The auburn haired girl clumsily got up from where she landed, and helped the fallen students up to their feet. she looked around them, to see if she could find a track of the person she was following, but she was out of luck.
"Hullo! Susan right?" red haired Ron Weasley addressed the girl. "You look like you've been following a herd of Hippogriffs!"
"Ronald! Can you be any more insensitive?" the bushy haired girl of the trio called out rolling her eyes. "I'm sorry, don't mind him. Are you alright?"
If Susan was amused by the banter between the two of them, she didn't show that. "I'm fine," she said, dismissing them. A thought occurred to her, -maybe they might have seen them!- "Actually, did you see someone coming this way? They were wearing black and green"
The auburn haired girl noted the look of confusion the three of them gave each other, until Ron answered with nonchalance. "Unless you meant one of the twins- haven't seen anyone else coming through"
"But I was following them, and they turned to this corridor-"
"Are you sure they weren't a student?" the third of their group -green eyed one- asked suspiciously.
"Yes, the robes didn't look to be a students"
Hermione Granger was rolling her eyes, although Susan could sense that she was contemplating. "Sorry Susan, We didn't notice anyone. How about-"
"How about we all go for breakfast?" Ron supplied, much to the tinge of annoyance of Hermione. Gesturing to his friend with a smirk on his face, he continued. "What? I'm starving! Come with us Bones, we'll search for your green robed person once we are done with breakfast!"
Needless to say, It was a very annoyed and a confused Susan who made it back to the Hufflepuff table for her breakfast.
Hello everyone! Thank you for all the love you've given to this story. I personally didn't think this would blow up so much, so thank you all! I won't disappoint you.
That said, I'm sorry for the late update, I was struggling with life and had no motivation to write anything at all. Now that I'm back, the updates will be a little frequent, so keep lookout for that.
I hope that you enjoyed the to chapters, and I didn't make anyone out of character. I would love to hear your opinion on the characters introduced.
Also, I'm actually looking for a beta for this story, who can edit and also to give some input to the story.
Lastly, you can also join with weaving the stroyline, giving your ideas on little snippets on the lives of the lives of the founders, and of our favorite Golden Trio.
Next Chapter: The Realization
